


Hang up the Spandex (But don't pack it away just yet)

by SherlockMalfoy



Series: Grid Links [2]
Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Lots of Red Rangers, M/M, Post-Dino Thunder, Pre-Megaforce
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 22:51:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 38,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14030574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SherlockMalfoy/pseuds/SherlockMalfoy
Summary: Once again Tommy Oliver faces a life without powers and without monsters. Life is good and peaceful and he can get on to being a normal high school science teacher. His mad scientist days are behind him, he's got a happy and stable relationship, wonderful friends and everything is great. His team is moving on with their lives and he couldn't be happier... and yet there is always abut.There's a war raging it's way towards Earth the likes of which no Ranger has ever seen before. Eltar is destroyed. The Armada is coming. And somehow Dr. Oliver's got to find a way to get everyone a working morpher.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so everyone is aware, this is my first Power Rangers fic that I'm actually letting anyone read. Ever. And is also the first one I've written since 1997 so... yeah. Literally the first one I've written in around 20 years. (For the record, I was 10 in 1997).  
> So honestly, the summary sounds like it's gonna be action and adventure but really it's not. It's friendship, fluff, maybe some romance at some point. All against a backdrop of the approaching Armada as a way to explain how and why the Legendary Rangers (everyone pre-Megaforce) knew to show up and were all able to morph and fight in the Legendary Battle.
> 
> Entire story starts the night of the last episode of Dino Thunder and most likely will most likely end post-Legendary Battle. I'm using air-dates of seasons for when each team is active (example: Dino Thunder is active in 2004 because that's when it aired plus the SPD episode where they were picked up from the reunion says in the background "Welcome Class of 2004"). RPM, since it takes place in an alternate universe, is not considered a Ranger Team in this story, but it will be referenced at some point.

**ONE**

 

He watched from his place on the second floor with a soft, nostalgic expression. He'd clapped with everyone else when Kira finished her set. He was truly proud of her, and the rest of his team, outside of their roles as Rangers. They reminded him a lot of his old friends from Angel Grove High. He had to admit, they wouldn't have been his first choice for Rangers. He hadn't wanted to put teenagers at risk like that - not again. But the Power wants what it wants and by the time he'd gotten it sorted out it was too late. The gems had already bonded to the kids.

It worked out alright in the end. The Trent situation could have been handled a hell of a lot better - but he was grateful things hadn't been worse and that the corruption of the White Dino gem only affected Trent while he was morphed. Unlike a certain spell and sword of darkness he still had nightmares about a decade later.

As the dance wound down he couldn't help but look back on his own senior prom. For the first time in months he felt truly old. This time for more mundane reasons. It wasn't having to keep up with four teenagers in battle. It wasn't having to train them to be better Rangers, or even the old man jokes when his team was feeling particularly oppositional. No, it was standing around chaperoning a high school prom and telling teenagers to keep five to six inches of space between their bodies when he walked by and caught them dancing a little too close.

He shook his head and sighed, waiting for the night to end so he could go home, pick at a plate of left overs, and decide whether to grade papers or update the Grid archives before crawling into bed.

By the time he pulls up in front of his house that night, he's decided to take a shower, take an aspirin, and just go to bed. The archives and the stack of essays could wait for the morning.

**o0o**

It was experience rather than any sense of caution that had him waiting until the end of the school year to start making phone calls to his friends. To tell them, officially, the Dinos were retired. Their gems, though they had lost their power and the morphers were destroyed, still connected them. To each other and to the Grid.

The kids had given the bands back, with the gems. Dr. Oliver couldn't bring himself to take his off. Hiding it under his shirt cuffs. He knew eventually he'd have to - it was useless to him for morphing now, but he felt naked without it.

He considered giving the gems back as graduation gifts. Even if they regained a charge, no one else could use them. Not like the Ranger powers that had come before. When he and Hayley had gone over the data, and finally had the chance to thoroughly examine the link between the gems and the Grid, the two of them had discovered the powers of the Dino gems more closely resembled the powers of the Ninjetti. A large component of them coming from the ranger themselves. The unmorphed abilities, certainly. He was sure those abilities were based on the person rather than the Power. Had Kira received any other color, she would still have possessed the ear shattering scream. If Conner had been blue, he would still have had super speed. If Dr. Oliver himself had been Red... well... He always had been good at hiding in plain sight. The special abilities, he had reason to believe, came from within and the gems themselves only enabled them, or awakened them in some way.

He rubbed at his wrist, reassuring himself that the pressure of the band was still there as he sat in the auditorium with everyone else and waited for the speeches to end so the poor kids could get their hard earned pieces of paper.

Beside him Hayley was quietly chattering away about how proud she was of their team - Their kids. They clapped and cheered for each one as they crossed the stage in cap and gown. And Dr. Oliver couldn't help the swelling of emotion in his chest. Pride and warmth and relief. His team, well his latest team, not only all survived their battles but also high school. For a Ranger, that was often a larger achievement than saving the world.

After tracking down certain challenging students, his team included, to congratulate them on surviving high school and earning their diplomas after a lot of hard work he and Hayley parted ways in the parking lot. She back to Cyberspace to kick off the post-grad party she'd been planning since well before the Reefside prom. And Dr. Oliver back home for a much needed weekend of monster and job-free rest.

**o0o**

The drive back to 1992 Valencia Road was quiet and uneventful, and he looked forward to a long weekend with pizza and his TiVo.

As the jeep pulled up the dirt track of his drive, and the house came into view, a flash of red caught his eye. Bright, scratched, and dented - he would know that truck anywhere. Dr. Oliver wasted no time in parking right next to it and practically leaping out of his car. Bounding up the porch to the front door and finding it unlocked.

"Jason!" he exclaimed upon going inside, finding the man himself standing next to a model of a fossil with a fond smile.

"You kept _Bone-a-saurus_!"

He was smiling from ear to ear. "Of course I kept him!" He closed the distance between them quickly, reaching out at the same moment, hands to wrists and pulling each other in for a bone-crushing hug.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too, Jase."

When they let go, both were grinning like a pair of kids.

"You're done? No more Rangering?"

"Only with the Reds."

Jason nodded. It was as close to a solid answer as he knew he would ever get out of the man. "So... I'm starved. Pizza and tv?"

Dr. Oliver- no, Tommy - nodded and clasped him on the shoulder. "You read my mind. Let me get out of this monkey suit and I'll be right down. Menus are on the fridge."

 

**TWO**

 

He'd talked with Dr. O on the phone off and on since graduation. Had seen him around the house when he and Anton were trying to get projects back on track in the wake of the Mesagog situation. But... it wasn't the same as sitting in the Lair. Protected from the outside world and able to talk freely about what his life was like as a Ranger. And no one could really understand what it was like for him for those months he wasn't himself - not entirely.

It was a rough day. Harder than others. Hayley had given him the rest of the day off, citing that "You've got that _green_ look to you," whatever that had meant.

So he'd called Dr. O to give him a heads up that he was coming over but it had gone straight to voicemail. He needed guidance, living in a post-Ranger period. He needed advice to deal with the guilt that still plagued him some days.

When the cab pulled up in front of 1992 Valencia Road to find his mentor's jeep parked out front he was relieved. He paid the driver and grabbed his bag, bounding up to the front door and about to give it a sharp knock - almost forgetting Dr. O's preference for the doorbell since it could be heard down in the Lair.

He redirected his hand and pushed the little plastic button. He felt like he could climb out of his skin. The nervousness that always accompanied the guilt on a rough day. When the door opened he'd already started to talk before realizing it wasn't his mentor at the door. Cutting himself off he blinked. Stared. Then pointedly stated, "You're not Dr. O."

"No, I'm not."

"Uh..."

"He'll be back soon, though. Come on in."

Instead, Trent took a step back, tightening his hold on the strap of his bag. "Maybe another time-"

The man in red looked him up and down a moment before opening the door wider. "Mostly white... you must be Trent Fernandez." He offered his hand. "My name's Jason Scott. I'm an old friend of Tommy's from... his other Ranger days."

That seems to get him to open up a little bit. Cautiously he reaches out to shake the man's hand. It's his turn to look the other over. Lots of red. "Red Ranger. One of his other teams?"

"First team. Come on in, kid. He should be back pretty soon. Hungry? I was just about to make lunch."

He moves aside, holding the door open. It's clear he's not going to take no for an answer. With a sigh, Trent hangs his head and steps inside. He goes straight for the living-room and sets himself down on the sofa to wait.

**o0o**

Jason and Trent sat at the dining table, each with a plate of french fries and chicken sandwiches, when the sound of an engine could be heard outside. Soon after the front door opened. "They had to order a new transmission so it'll be another week," Dr. O's voice called from the front of the house. A rattling of keys as the front door was shut. "Hope you don't mind cherry tomatoes babe!" Shuffling of footsteps.

That certainly caught the young man's attention as he snapped his head up to stare at the man across the table from him. His eyes were wide as the sound of footsteps drew closer to the kitchen.

"They were all out-"

Jason looked back at him and shrugged. He picked up a napkin to wipe his hands with in the few seconds it took for the owner of the voice to reach them, still talking.

"Of..."

Dr. O stopped in the doorway as Jason had risen from the table to relieve him of the two large brown paper bags.

"...romas."

"You've got a visitor."

"I can see that."

Trent, who seemed just as embarrassed as his mentor, stared at him a few moments before blinking and finding his voice again. "I didn't mean to- I mean, I tried to call and-"

"He always forgets to charge his phone before leaving the house," Jason said with a soft laugh, turning his attention back to Tommy. "Did you eat?"

"Uh..."

"Sit down. Talk to your Ranger. I'll make you a sandwich."

**o0o**

After the awkwardness of lunch, Jason made himself scarce as Trent and Dr. O retreated to the Lair to talk things over. Ex-Evil Ranger to Ex-Evil Ranger. They don't broach the subject of Jason other than for Dr. O to say "It's a very long story that isn't your business." And for Trent to say "I thought you and Hayley were dating."

"Don't let her hear you say that."

Trent, with his burdens feeling a little lighter after having talked with Dr. O emerged from the Lair to find the day nearly through and the sun low in the evening sky. "I'd better get back. Ever since we got rid of Mesagog dad's been a little overprotective."

"Stay for dinner. I'll call Anton and let him know you're here."

"I couldn't-"

"Come on. Jason makes a mean lasagna and I know your metabolism's still revved up from the Power withdrawal."

By the time Dr. O was done on the phone, it was agreed Trent could spend the night and he'd bring him home the next day when he came over to talk about a potential dig out in the Mojave.

Dinner had started out awkwardly with the young man unsure of what he should do with the new information about his mentor's life outside of what he'd already known before today. Though he couldn't really be at fault, as Jason had pointed out when he'd refilled their glasses from the pitcher of lemonade on the table.

"If Tommy wasn't so forgetful he'd have got your call."

"I've gotten better," Dr. O protested, causing Jason to point at him with his fork, a bit of cheese and pasta sticking off the end.

"This man's legendary Ranger status is nothing compared to his legendary forgetfulness. After I came home from Switzerland he was supposed to meet me and the gang at the Youth Center after school to work on a project-"

"That wasn't my fault. First Uncle John called wanting me to check on something at the cabin, then Mondo sent down some Cogs-"

"Which we would have helped you with if you'd _remembered_ to use your communicator." Jason shook his head with a small, fond laugh. "By the time he _remembered_ he was supposed to meet up with us, we'd been waiting three hours and nearly finished our group project for the science fair. When he eventually showed up, he'd forgotten the fossil model we were going to use for an interactive part for bonus points with the judges."

"Hey, I _remembered_ to bring it with me to the science fair, and we still got third place," Dr. O mumbled from his end of the table.

After this, dinner went by a lot smoother - at the science teacher's expense. Trent and Jason bonded over a combination of Dr. O's most hilarious Rangering mishaps that never made it outside the original core Rangers. While not entirely trusting of the older man, he did warm up to him a bit and offered to help with the clean up after dessert.

**o0o**

Trent woke in a cold sweat, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The panic took a few moments to subside as he took in the familiar surroundings. The guest room at Dr. O's. He reached for the lamp, turning it on and staring at the wall as he tried to put his thoughts in order and recall the events of the previous day. He'd had a nightmare the night before, too. It troubled him all day. He'd been sent home from work and went straight to Dr. O's. He met-

"Oh... right..."

Finding himself unable to get back to sleep, he dressed and decided to go downstairs for a glass of water. As he came down he could hear movement in the house. The closer he got to the kitchen the more he started to smell cooking food. His stomach grumbled, despite having eaten quite a lot at dinner.

"Hey Trent," Jason had greeted once the young man padded into the kitchen. "You hungry?"

"It's five in the morning," the young man protested, noting the sun wasn't even up yet.

"Couldn't sleep," Jason replied flatly.

"You too?" Trent mumbled as he maneuvered around the man at the stove, intending to just get a glass of water and head back upstairs. But the smell of sausage was very tempting.

"I can toss a few more links on?"

"Sure. Might as well," Trent said as he opted instead for a glass of juice and moved to the table to wait.

He wasn't left alone long. A plate of scrambled eggs, sausage links and toast was set in front of him before Jason joined him at the table with a cup of coffee and his own. They sat quietly in one another's awkward company before finally Jason broke the silence.

"You know, it's been 7 years since I was kidnapped by Divatox and put under Maligore's spell. And I still have nightmares from it."

"Who was Divatox?"

"A space pirate. She wanted to marry this... demon thing. But she needed to make a human sacrifice. Guess who was the sacrifice."

"Wow..."

"Yeah..." Jason said, pushing his eggs around on his plate. "Me and Kim, the first Pink Ranger, were scuba diving in the bay. She was visiting and was going to surprise the gang the next day. But we didn't get the chance since the pirates picked us up first. Tommy and the gang got a power boost and came out to rescue us but it was nearly too late."

"What happened?"

"Kim and me were dropped in a volcano."

"No way!"

"And we were possessed by the spirit of Maligore, turning us into his kids or whatever. It's still a little hazy. We were like that for about a half hour but that was the worst half hour of my life." He pushed the rest of his breakfast forward and took a sip of his coffee. "I nearly killed him. It took some furry little space wizard to break us free of the mind control. But Kim and me still had - have - that power from Maligore. It won't ever go away. And it's been one heck of a rocky road. We didn't even talk for three years before going on the Red Mission to the moon two years ago."

"The moon?"

Jason nodded. "The moon."

Trent shook his head with a sigh, sipping his juice. "Why are you even telling me this?"

"I wasted three years of my life that I could have spent keeping Tommy out of trouble because I couldn't handle the nightmares and what I got turned into. I let it eat away at me and lost sight of all the good things and the people that mattered. The nightmares won't ever go away. Tommy'll be the first to tell you that. He's had it happen to him more than once. He means well but he'll coddle you and try to reassure you. But I don't think that's really what you need."

"You don't even know me."

"No, but I know that look. You need an outlet. Something to keep your mind and your hands busy. He says you're an artist. Maybe expand from drawing into sculpture. Something that needs more concentration and skill. And put everything you've got into it. Let that be your zen thing. Your outlet for the times when you can't handle the nightmares and the guilt just by talking it out."

Trent thought about it. Looking over the courses offered at the local community college the last few weeks had got him thinking about seriously pursuing art as his career instead of just a hobby. "I'll... I'll think about it."

Jason nodded. "That's all I ask."

"So what's your _zen thing_?"

"I'm a mechanic. Motorcycles mostly but I've been known to patch together a zord or two with some help."

The two men fall into natural conversation after that, with Jason telling even more embarrassing stories of Dr. O's teenage years outside of his duties as a Ranger.

 

**THREE**

 

Ethan spends a lot of time at Cyberspace and the Lair over the summer working on an invention for a local Young Scientists convention that Dr. O convinced him to get into. Unlike Trent, he had seen the diary video Dr. O had made just in case something ever happened to him so he knew exactly who the man crashing at his mentor's house was.

Though, after coming and going from the house on Valencia Road for a few months, he was certain there was more to the story than he and the others were led to believe. When he considered certain possibilities, things he saw around the place started to make a little more sense.

Ethan, thankfully, had enough sense and manners to keep his thoughts and comments to himself. And he was grateful for the extra help with building his invention when Mr. Scott's not busy and Ethan needs another set of hands to handle grunt work. Conner on the other hand...

"So when's the big day?"

Dr. O nearly choked on his soda, sitting up on the deck chair in the back yard and trying not to spill his drink on his book. "What?" he croaked when he was able to half-way breathe again.

"You and big red over there," Conner said, gesturing towards Ethan and Jason, working on the young man's invention.

"What in the world gave you that idea?!" At the sound of his raised voice, Jason peered around from behind the weather machine, dark eyes watching him and brows raising in silent question before he turned his attention back to the machine.

"Oh come on, Dr. O. It's obvious to anyone with eyes."

Dr. O schooled his features as best as he could, trying and failing to adopt an air of authority. "Conner, my personal life is not an appropriate topic for discussion."

"I'm not your student anymore. I'm your teammate. And that's a completely different set of rules now. So, what's taking so long? Or are you waiting for him to ask?"

"That is none of your business."

"You are!"

"I am not."

"You so are. Look at you! Your face is redder than my shirt!" Conner grinned, leaning over and patting his mentor on the shoulder with a laugh before turning to get Ethan's attention. "Hey! Kira owes me $20!"

Ethan sighed and shook his head before calling back over his shoulder. "She does not!"

"She does so! He's the one waiting!"

"Guys-" Jason tried to cut in as Dr. O tried to will himself to ignore the two young men by hiding behind his book. Eventually he had to give a sharp, piercing whistle to get their attention. Once he had it, he shook his head with a sigh. "Guys, the only thing he's waiting on is for everyone's schedules to line up so we can try again."

Conner's exclamation of "WHAT?!" came out in the same moment as Ethan's "Try again?"

"Jason..." Dr. O said in a warning tone.

"Would have done it ages ago if _someone_ didn't run off the day before and accidentally create his own dinosaur monsters." Jason couldn't help but grin. " _ **Again.**_ "

"What do you mean... _Again_?"

The only way Dr. O was able to finish reading his book was by hiding inside. The only way Jason was able to get Conner to stop laughing was with the promise of food. And Ethan... Ethan just shook his head, tried to get some work done, and tried not to think about the fact that his former teacher was hiding in his bedroom because he was too embarrassed to face anyone for the rest of the day.

 

**FOUR**

 

Kira figured it out not long after Trent, but before Ethan. And definitely before Conner.

Then again, she could see quite a lot from the stage at Cyberspace when she got up there to play.

Like how all the times she'd seen Dr. O hanging out or relaxing after they defeated Mesagog and then Zeltrax, the man still seemed to be on edge. Never fully letting his guard down. She'd just figured that was his natural state - being a Power Ranger for so long had to lend itself to a natural sort of paranoia. Always being on guard.

It was something she herself was still struggling with.

But then, when he'd walked in one Friday night after graduation with a friend she'd recognized from that video diary all those months ago - well it was like the man she'd known as her mentor and teacher was a completely different person. He smiled more, for one thing.

And it wasn't those eerily cryptic ones he would sometimes get. Or the ones he'd give them when they'd done something to make him space out on a nostalgia trip. The fake ones that he tried to put up so the team wouldn't worry about him. But they'd worry anyway because they were his team mates, and she liked to think that now they weren't in school, they were his genuine friends.

So when she noticed Dr. O's smiles reaching his eyes for the first time and he didn't hold himself like he was expecting the ground to fall out from under him at any moment, she knew it had something to do with the man who seemed attached to him at the hip.

The summer wore on, and her two best friends were gearing up to start college soon. Conner had gotten a scholarship, soccer of course. Ethan was starting at Reefside Tech. And Kira was still unsure what to do with herself. She was, as selfish as it sounded even to her, thankful that she wasn't alone in this. Trent was also at a loss of how to move forward as he tried to pick between keeping his job at Cyberspace, going to art school, or taking a year off from everything entirely and just getting his life sorted before he made any real decisions.

She could get behind that.

It was one week before Conner had to leave for Sacremento and two before Ethan would be starting classes when Trent had come to her after she finished one of her usual Friday sets.

"So... you going to the cookout on Sunday?"

"What cookout?"

"At Dr. O's."

"I... I didn't even know-"

"Ah. So Conner forgot. Well, it's a good thing I didn't then," he said, setting a bottle of apple juice on the counter. He even added a crazy straw, just the way she liked it. "But you'll come?"

"I'll have to clear it with my folks but what's the occasion?"

"Hayley said some friends of his are coming to town."

"And?" she asked, drinking her juice through the straw. It was ice cold, and felt really good on her throat and soothed her voice. Always a favorite.

"And," Trent continued and lowered his voice so only she could hear him. "They used to run around in crazy spandex and giant robots, too."

"No way!" she exclaimed, then lowered her voice when she got a few odd looks. She leaned forward as he pretended to wipe the counter in front of her. "No way. There's no way. Really?"

"Really."

"Who do you think is coming?"

"So you'll go."

"Even if I have to sneak out, I'll be there. So, do you know who?"

Trent shook his head. "Sorry, I don't. But I can guarantee at least one will be there. It's supposed to be a surprise for us, but one of the girls from my... er... special-"

"You can say it, Trent," she said quietly in as reassuring a way as she could. "You know we don't judge you for it."

"I know. But, it's hard to say it out loud sometimes. Anyway," he said wiping at the counter and looking around. "This one Pink Ranger goes to my group, and I overheard her asking him at the last session if they were still on for the meet up this weekend."

"That doesn't mean anything-"

"She said she can't wait to see the others."

"Oh my God we're going to meet the Power Rangers," she whisper-hissed excitedly. Then she frowned. "How in the world could Conner forget to tell me about this? Or Ethan for that matter! Does Ethan know?" When Trent didn't answer, or look her in the eye, she grumbled. "When I see him, I'm going to hit him I swear this is just too big to not tell me."

"Well to be fair they have been pretty busy with getting ready for college."

"Ugh... don't remind me."

Trent grinned. "So I'll pick you up at 5 on Sunday?"

**o0o**

She had been very nervous. It wasn't every day you met the Power Rangers. Or rather, MORE Power Rangers. Older, more experienced, legendary Power Rangers.

Even though they hadn't had their powers, well, most of their powers, for a few months she still couldn't see herself in anything but shades of yellow. She still wore the silver cuff with her yellow Dino gem on it. Completely drained and useful as a paperweight. Now it held more of a sentimental value than anything practical. And, because of the color of her gem, it matched all the other yellow clothes she'd owned.

Trent had shown up exactly on time in a pretty beat up white car. She'd asked him if he picked it up in a junk yard, to which his answer had been yes, followed quickly by "Jason's been working on it. He's a great mechanic." And that had been that.

She wasn't surprised by the revelation about their mentor's boyfriend to be honest. He had to have something to do with himself after retiring from Rangering.

They pulled up to 1992 Valencia Road half an hour after leaving her house, stopping only once because he hadn't left early enough to gas up his car before picking her up. She'd given him a bit of cash to help split the cost. After all he was her ride back home, too.

They pulled up alongside a few more cars than she was used to seeing parked outside the house. As they stepped out into the evening sun, they heard laughter and music coming from around back, and the scent of charred meats and sweet, sticky sauce clung to the air. She grabbed her bag and guitar out of the back seat and together White and Yellow walked around the house to join the party.

Conner's face lit up when he spotted them. "Kira! Trent! You guys made it!"

"No thanks to you!" Kira shouted back playfully as her best friend and teammate came up to give her a hug, and Trent a hearty slap on the back. She looked around at the unfamiliar faces of people clad in a rainbow of colors. "Where's Ethan? Did he ride over with you?"

"Yeah. He's down in the Lair with Hayley and one of the Blue Rangers." Conner moved to stand between his friends, draping a friendly arm across their shoulders and leading them further into the festivities. "Hey! Hey guys! Look who made it!"

Trent's cheeks flushed as Kira winced from the shouting right in her ear. She kind of understood people's issues with her ptera scream now. He led them to a table laden with snacks near a grill where two men stood arguing over how best to cook on it. One of them, she recognized quickly as Mr. Scott. The other... well, it had been a while since she'd seen the video diary but it could have been...

"Oh no, Rocko. The last time I listened to you we damn near lost our eyebrows! I know what I'm doin' man."

"You're not letting them cook long enough on either side. You can't just keep flipping and flipping. It won't cook evenly!"

"Son-"

"Don't _son_ me. I'm just as old as you are."

"You'll always be the rookie to me, Rocky."

"Alright boys break it up," came another voice. Soft and gentle and full of mirth. "Rocky, let Jason alone to his task before Aisha comes over and kicks you both off the grill."

"She wouldn't," Jason said.

"Oh yeah? Just ask Adam why he and Rocky don't horseplay around the fire pit at my house anymore," the tall blond woman said with a sweet smile.

Kira turned her attention back to the snack tables. "Yikes," she said, grabbing up a bottle of water from a bucket of ice. She looked around, trying to put names to the faces she remembered from the video diary. She, Trent, and Conner maneuvered around to a couple of deck chairs at the edge of the crowd. "So who's missing?" Trent asked after they settled in with drinks and plates of snacks.

Behind them a voice piped up, "A Pink, two Blacks, two Yellows, and a Blue." The sudden appearance of Ethan and the Blue Turbo Ranger caught the White and Yellow Dinos by surprise, nearly spilling their snacks on the grass.

"Guys, this is Justin Stewart. Super genius and one of the judges from the Young Scientists convention."

"I didn't know one of Tommy's kids would be competing. If I did, I probably would have excused myself so there wouldn't be a conflict of interest."

"You're our age!" was all Trent could manage to say.

Justin laughed, patting Trent on the back. "I'm just glad I'm not the youngest one at these get togethers anymore."

The five of them stuck together for most of the barbecue. An hour after Trent and Kira arrived, Dr. O finally showed up, causing a lot more chatter and excitement. Dr. O made the rounds and mingled before eventually reaching his latest team.

"Enjoying yourselves?"

"Heck yeah!" Conner exclaimed as over by the grill, another round of argument was breaking out and was once again quelled by the blonde woman.

"Ignore them. They'll argue about the flavor of tap water if you let 'em," he said with a laugh. "It's a Red thing. Get too many of us in the same room at least half are going to argue."

"Red thing?..."

"Yeah," Dr. O said as Kira moved her legs out of the way so he could sit down. "It's weird-"

Justin scoffed. "I was a twelve year old who grew up every time I morphed," Justin said with a shake of his head. "You can't get much weirder than that, Tommy."

"Yeah, you're right. I still feel really awful about that. I know it wasn't easy for you," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a guilty look on his face. "If we had to do it again, I would've had you leave with the rest of us."

"Hey, at least I didn't go running off into space. Man, trying to explain to their families that they were Power Rangers was the worst. Especially TJ's dad. He didn't know whether to be proud or angry for months."

"I'm sorry you were put in that position. You should have called."

"Tommy, dude, seriously? After your wreck I didn't want to bring any more stress to your door."

Kira rolled her eyes. "ANYWAY... As nice as this nostalgia trip is, you were going to impart some _ancient Ranger wisdom_ ," she said, adding a bit of sarcasm halfway through, earning herself a laugh from her friends and an exasperated shake of the head from her mentor.

"Yeah... the weird thing. Ranger colors tend to attach to certain personalities or bring out specific traits in people. Blues are usually the really smart ones. The techs and the geniuses."

"Except Rocky."

"Rocky had his moments. Before Jason came back Rocky was the voice of reason. And believe me, I needed that to help keep me in line when my ego got too big for my head."

Kira chuckled. "What about Yellows?"

"Yellows tend to be the humanitarians. Peacemakers. When everyone else starts fighting, the Yellows always bring us back to the team."

Conner barked out a laugh. "That's ironic since she was the first one to try and quit. And that was before we even got the morphers."

"She did?" Trent asked, and Kira gave a nod. "Conner was next," she said.

"Makes sense," Trent said with a shrug. "What about White, Dr. O?"

The man shrugged. "So far, there's only been four of us. Not really enough to figure it out. So far there's a difference between when man or a woman is the White Ranger. For women it's like they take the role of the Pinks. The emotional support for the team. But you and me are the extra Rangers. The ones that have a harder time and bigger obstacles to overcome. But we come out stronger for it. And our strength backs up the rest of the team when everything else fails." He shrugged. "That's the best I can come up with as far as ancient Ranger wisdom goes."

The rest of the evening, and into the night, was spent with laughter and music. Good food and good friends. Justin reveled in the fact that no, he was not the youngest Ranger there anymore. Jason and Rocky had nearly burned the food as they'd been caught up in an argument over which was the better zord, the Ninja Ape or the original Tyrannosaurus. Conner had put an end to it by pointing out HIS Tyrannosaurus was the best zord. Newer, faster, and more responsive.

The more everyone laughed and joked, telling stories about working with Dr. O, or adventures in their lives after they left the Rangers, the young Dino team loosened up. Before the get together was over, Trent was telling everyone who'd listen about his evil clone. Which of course brought Dr. O into the conversation about HIS evil clone. But it was Justin who ultimately won with his recounting of the robotic versions of his own team of Turbo Rangers. All of whom were taken out into space to keep fighting the good fight.

As the party wound down and various guests bid farewell until next time, the four younger Dino Rangers and the lone Blue Turbo had gathered around a fire bowl. "So do you guys do this every year?"

"Near enough. We missed last year because it was Tommy's turn to host but he went back on active duty. And Jason was in Europe on tour with Tanya running her security detail." He shrugged. "We had a 4th of July thing in Stone Canyon with Aisha though. Fireworks and smoothies."

 

**FIVE**

 

Six months after defeating Mesagog and losing the ability to morph into the Dino Rangers Tommy and Jason ran off to New York, dragging Kira along with them. They'd told her parents that she had been offered an internship with a recording studio, _Zack Attack Records_. They left out the fact that the owner was a personal friend, and one of the top selling artists on the label also was a close personal friend. Since they just happened to be going to New York themselves "to visit family" they wouldn't mind keeping an eye on her. And that if she didn't get the internship, they'd be more than happy to accompany her home safely.

She would get the internship though. They both knew it.

"Guys!" she'd exclaimed when she realized they had pulled some strings to get her foot in the music business. "You really shouldn't have done this."

Dr. O was very firm with his insistence that she had gotten the offer based on merit rather than his and Jason's old friendships. "All I did was send your demo tape. Zack's the one that thought you had talent. And it's just an interview for an internship so you get an idea of the business side of your career."

She had hugged him fiercely, reminding herself not to cry. "But... What about Trent? I mean, Conner and I have our big breaks, and Ethan's already getting offers from MIT and-"

"Trent is having an art show at Hayley's the day before our flight, and a few gallery owners from Mariner Bay plan to make a trip out here for a closer look. Trent will be just fine."

**o0o**

Kira had been surprised during that trip to New York to learn she had her own hotel room. And was suddenly invited to a spur of the moment Ranger wedding (elopement) in Vermont. Of course, when she realized exactly who was getting married, she snapped lots of pictures with her phone and sent them to her boys back in California.

At a restaurant afterwards she couldn't help but snicker when Mr. Cranston had commented "It's about darn time."

One of the now happily married Rangers must have heard because Jason couldn't help laughing. "Hey, I had to do something before he went and got himself neck deep in super powered spandex again."

"It's not spandex. It's self replicating nanotech-"

"It's spandex Tommy. High tech spandex. And if I didn't drag you all the way out here to do this you'd probably still be putting it off by playing mad scientist. _**Again**_."

"That was the ONE time! And I cleaned up the mess-"

"Only after I had to run to Europe so your friends and family couldn't be used against you."

Mr. Cranston - Billy if Kira remembered her Ranger history correctly - rolled his eyes, sighed, and shook his head while signaling for a refill of his drink. "Here we go..."

Kira leaned in to ask what he meant but Tanya had already risen and clinked her glass to toast the "happy" couple before they could get into an age old argument about volcanoes, ancient evil lava entities, and space pirates with a LOT of cleavage.

The craziness of her teacher's elopement aside, Kira rather enjoyed her trip to New York and accepted the internship offer once it was formally given after a very thorough interview process. Her job didn't start until just after the new year, so it gave her plenty of time to pack and get her affairs in order.

**o0o**

It had been five years since Mesagog. Five years since Jason had just rolled back into his life as if he'd never been exiled for his own safety. Five years since Tommy had needed to deal with Official Ranger Business.

And yet... here he sat in a parking lot in Angel Grove outside of a motel the day before having to face an entire conference hall full of other Reds. From ten to at least fifteen by this time. And he wasn't exactly thrilled to be pulling everyone in either. But the threat was far too great for them not to put every team on notice.

"Hey, Jason's about to order take out. He wants to know pizza or Chinese."

Conner. Conner who was taking a few days off from his non-profit to come out with them on Ranger Business. His first Reds Only meeting.

The first full Reds Only meet since the Moon Mission seven years ago. Five new teams in 7 years. That wasn't supposed to be happening so quickly.

"Ah- Chinese I guess."

"Yes!" Conner exclaimed, causing Tommy to realize he'd just broken a tie as the young man hurried back to the room.

Tommy sighed. If any of the new Reds were anything like Conner... it was going to be a very long couple of days.

**o0o**

"Welcome back to _**NASADA**_ boys," Justin said when the black jeep pulled up outside the hanger. Conner and Jason were still working on getting their passes attached to their shirts. Conner finally just gave up and clipped his to a belt loop after climbing out of the back seat.

Justin's attention was shifted momentarily to a voice in his earpiece. " _Black Christmas_ and the _Dinos_ just docked. Still waiting on _Speed Racer_ , _the Magician_ , and _the Tiger_."

Conner laughed. He couldn't help it. " _Black Christmas_? Really?!" he crowed. "Wait until the guys back home hear about this!"

Tommy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes. Yes... it was going to be a long couple of days. Jason was grinning, patting the poor man on the shoulder. "Have to admit, some people's Ranger history lends itself to some really funny names."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It could be worse."

"How could it be worse?!" Conner exclaimed, still laughing as he followed the two men and Justin inside the hanger.

"We could just collectively be _Jurassic Park_ ," Tommy said with a deadpan expression as they were led through to where a large strange spacecraft sat.

Conner's eyes went wide as he ran ahead of them, pointing at the ship. "Is that what I think it is?!"

"Yes, Conner."

Justin kept his composure as he turned his attention back to his earpiece. "What?" he said with a frown, then glanced at Tommy and Jason. "No. Their names weren't on Andros and TJ's contacts list...." He stepped away from the men and lowered his voice. _"Are you sure? I was told he was a non-combatant and consult only... No. No it's not a problem. Unexpected... Yeah."_

"Everything alright, Justin?" Jason called over.

Justin scowled. "Yeah. You guys go on. Andros and Zhane are waiting for you guys."

"Zhane?..." Jason looked to Tommy, who's frown had deepened. "A Sixth?"

"It's probably nothing. He lives on the ship, too. Makes sense he'd be here."

Jason nodded his agreement, but he still wasn't too happy about it. Pulling in an extra Sixth was never a good sign when it came to a Red Mission. "Yeah... yeah you're right."

**o0o**

Conner might have grown up a bit from his active Ranger days, but having the chance to meet so many other Power Rangers outside Dr. O's teams really got him feeling like a kid again. It was a dream come true, that was certain. He couldn't stop himself from zipping about, his super speed ferrying him from one group to another as he introduced himself or excitedly chattered about how excited he was.

"Put your baby T-Rex on a leash, Oliver," Eric Myers had muttered to him in passing. It took Jason reaching out and grabbing the kid by the back of his shirt when he zoomed by to get him to stay put for a while.

"Rookies... settle down man. You're worse than Cole was the first time."

"Well, you have to admit meeting Tommy and THEN the first ever Red Ranger? I didn't care if I lost my next battle after that. It was a dream come true."

"We're just regular guys like the rest of you," Jason protested when Cole had added to the conversation. "How much longer are we gonna have to wait? Not that I don't like catching up with everyone, but I don't like doing it after hearing about the end of the world."

Cole stared at him with wide eyes. "The world's ending?"

"It's always ending," Conner complained. "And another Ranger team will pop up to stop it. Just like they always do."

A voice came from behind them, drawing the three men's attention and causing them to turn towards him. "Right now there isn't an active Ranger team. And won't be for a few years." The man stepped forward, offering his hand to Jason first. "Bridge Carson, Red Ranger of Space Patrol Delta. It's an honor to finally meet you, sir."

As Jason shook his hand, Conner chewed his lip in thought. Something... something was familiar... "Ah ha! You know Kira!" he exclaimed. "Yeah, the Overdrive mission with- with-" He snapped his fingers as he thought. "Adam Park! Man, what was it like fighting with such a pick and mix team? I mean, fighting alongside a veteran like Adam must have been wild. Did he listen to your commands or-"

"Actually, he was team leader on that mission. I hadn't been a Red for long and he had the experience. It made more sense to let him lead with me as his second."

"Yeah, I know what that's like," Conner said, nodding towards his mentor. "Took him a while to let go of the reigns and take a back seat."

Jason laughed. "He's been like that from the very beginning. The only way I could ever get him to cooperate back when he was Green was to let him think he was in charge from time to time."

"Yeah, but then Zordon went and made him the leader when he put him in his Whites," came a fifth voice from behind Bridge with a laugh. "Got you so mad you went all the way to Switzerland!" The SPD Ranger moved aside to let the two old friends clasp wrists before going in for a hug. "Still pissed you didn't invite the rest of us to the wedding man."

"Come on man, it's been four years." Jason let him go. "What are you doing here anyway? You know you can't go back into the fight. Not with your back-"

"Technically I'm still a red, even if you get to wear the spandex. I get to wear the cool ninja suit."

"True."

"Besides, what else was I supposed to do when this guy," he pointed back over his shoulder towards Bridge. "Shows up on my doorstep insisting I come to the super secret Red Ranger clubhouse and no, Adam can't come along. Especially after you guys left me out of the moon mission."

"That wasn't my call, man. Blame Tommy for that one."

Bridge snickered as Conner tried to suppress a laugh. "Everyone's going to be saying that one for years to come," Bridge said so quietly Conner nearly missed it. The two shared a look before the Red Dino indicated for Bridge to follow him away from the other three. "Let me guess," Conner said once they were enough away out of earshot. "You know what's going on but you can't say anything because you can't change the past. Right?"

"How'd-"

"Kira. San Angeles. The Overdrive mission. You know she turned right around and called the rest of her team when she got home right?" Bridge nodded. "So, since you're here it must be something so bad it's worth screwing up the future for."

"Sort of. It's more... The records show I was here and the records don't say anything except what's going to be said and done here over the next few days. None of it is really all that important to me personally or my presence here. That's all I can safely tell you. I wish I could tell you more, I really do. But-"

"Yeah yeah. Time travel paradox problems and all that." He blinked, watching Bridge study him. "What? When Kira told us about you and how mysterious you were Ethan figured you were just trying to avoid screwing up our futures, your present."

"Thankfully the only effect my trip then had was a new song in Kira's discography. And no, I won't tell you which one she wrote for me."

Conner crossed his arms over his chest with a small nod of understanding, then cut his eyes back to the first two Red Rangers. "So that's you. Still doesn't explain why Rocky's here. They have the same power, so they can't both use it at the same time."

"Don't tell the Time Force guys but... I may have looked at the timeline and made a judgment call."

"You... He's not supposed to be here, is he?"

"No. But the mission ahead has a higher probability of success if he is involved from the beginning instead of brought in half-way. He's a non-combatant but he's better connected to the rest of the veteran rangers than Dr. Oliver is. By bringing him in now instead of two years from now, it makes all the difference in the world."

Conner sighed. "And you're telling me this because?... I mean it's great that you trust me with that. Thanks, by the way. But if you can't tell anyone about the future, then you shouldn't be telling me that you're actively trying to change it."

"Not change it. Just helping it along. And it's breaking so many protocols and my boss is going to have my head for this when I get back. I might lose my badge, but it's worth the risk this time."

Conner would spend the next eight hours wondering what the Red SPD Ranger meant by his statement. And when all the Reds were gathered around a hologram of a large fleet of alien ships, and Leo Corbett, the Red Galaxy Ranger, stood explaining in great detail the devastation the enemy known only as The Armada left in their wake, Conner searched out Bridge across the conference hall. The young man from the future just gave him a subtle nod of the head. And it was then Conner understood the reason Bridge was taking such a huge risk.

“This,” said Leo as he used a handheld device to change the hologram. “Is what’s left of Eltar after The Armada passed by.”

Beside him he heard Jason’s sharp inhale, and knew if he looked past him to Dr. O, he would see a familiar look of tightly concealed anger in his face.

Conner remembered the video diary. He remembered what Dr. O had said about Zordon, the wise old sage of Eltar.

Now this future war just became personal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I don't know exactly where this is going or how often I'm gonna post to this story but hey, it's a fun ride!  
> I WILL be dealing with what Jason was up to during the entirety of Dino Thunder, and more in-depth about how him and Tommy ended up together in the first place, and what happened to him (and Kim) after the Turbo movie.
> 
> So I basically decided that Justin came up with fun code names for each Red Ranger just because he had nothing better to do and decided that if he was going to be stuck helping then he'd have fun with it.  
> So here's a couple of fun names (more will be revealed when I post another chapter.)
> 
> Black Christmas - Tommy (because Red, White, and Green are X-mas colors. Plus Black Dino.)  
> Speed Racer - TJ (Red Turbo)  
> The Magician - Nick Russell (Red Mystic Force)  
> The Tiger - Casey Rhodes (Red Jungle Fury)  
> Jason and Conner are collectively called "The Dinos"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Red Ranger codenames from Justin in this chapter. Just a few anyway.

_**SIX** _

 

He hadn't been able to catch up with the gang much until Christmas break. Kira had come to stay with her parents while her grandfather was in the hospital. Ethan was home from Massachusetts. And Trent... Well... Trent had finally come out of his studio long enough to show the world that the locally famous sculptor was still alive. He hadn't been able to tell his team much about his trip to the NASADA base over the summer - especially the classified information. He didn't like keeping secrets from his team, his best friends. And it hurt to do it.

So Conner had resolved to tell them them what the Reds were preparing for. What Dr. O didn't want anyone outside the Reds to know yet until they had more information. More of a plan to deal with the coming threat. But without an active Ranger team on Earth, Conner didn't feel it was right to leave the others who could still fight - whether they could morph or not - in the dark. But he couldn't really talk about it at Hayley's either otherwise word would get back to Dr. O that he'd told them.

So, instead they decided to meet up in a town about two hours away.

Stone Canyon.

Kira laughed, and it was like music to his ears after he'd told her about arriving to the base with Jason and Dr. O. "They really gave you guys code names?"

Conner nodded, picking at his plate of fries. "Yeah. Everyone got one. Justin figured if he had to spend his time arranging space for the ship to dock and track down all the Reds he could, he might as well have fun with it."

"So what did they call Dr. O? I bet it's something really awful."

" _Black Christmas_ ," Conner said, causing Ethan to nearly choke on his hot dog. "There was one guy they called _Ape Escape_. That was Rocky, on account of his spirit animal power."

Trent nearly fell out of the booth laughing. "No way!"

"How many names do you remember?" Kira asked. "Like, what's some of the best?"

"Well..." He looked around to make sure no one nearby could listen in. "There was _Speed Racer_. That was TJ from the Turbo team. And _Space Case_ was Andros from the Space team. One guy, man, Eric-"

"The Quantum Ranger?" Ethan asked.

Conner nodded. "Yeah, him. They called him _Fake Rex_."

" _Fake Rex_?"

Conner nodded again. "Yeah. Because the Q-Rex isn't a real dinosaur." He leaned in close, signaling the rest of them to do the same. "But the worst part is what they did to Jason. Before me, he was just _T-Rex_. Because, y'know, that's what his Ranger power was."

"So what's he called now?"

" _Grandpa Rex_."

Kira pulled back, unable to contain her laughter as her whole body seemed to shake with it. "Are you kidding me?!"

"What? Like I said, Justin figured he might as well have fun," Conner said as he too leaned back, returning to his aimless picking at his lunch as the laughter started to settle down.

Once they'd all caught their breath, and the waitress came by to refill their drinks, Conner contemplated not telling them the full story after all. Let them live in ignorance just a little while longer. Let them enjoy their normal lives just a few more years before getting sucked back into the Life again.

No. He couldn't do that. He'd told Bridge that he'd keep an eye on things in the past. He was close to Dr. O and Jason, so he'd be able to at least keep track of the Earth side of things. Make sure things didn't get out of hand too soon and be a voice for the Rookies. But if he was going to do that he needed to know his team had his back. Each one had something to offer - Ethan's genius, Kira's ability to travel wherever whenever since she got her music career off the ground. And Trent's access to his dad's resources. With Conner's leadership, they couldn't be beat.

"Guys," he said at last, taking a deep breath and letting it go. "I know we hung up our suits and moved on, but there's something you need to know. And I need to know you've got my back."

Trent was the first to respond. "Anything, man."

"There's a war coming. Bigger than Mesagog. Bigger than anything we've ever faced, or has ever come to Earth before. To- Dr. O and the rest of the Reds are trying to get the planet ready. I'm not even supposed to tell you guys yet until we know whether or not the morphing grid's going to spit out another team between now and then. But I can't keep you in the dark." He glanced around again, the restaurant was starting to fill up with the midday rush. "Let's find somewhere quieter. This is going to take a while."

He spent the afternoon and early evening telling his team about what went on at the Red Conference that summer. He told them everything he knew about The Armada from that meeting, and the back and forth calls since then he'd sat in on from his apartment. When he mentioned meeting Bridge Carson from SPD, Kira was concerned. "He's from the future... This is all history to him, and clearly we win regardless because his future exists."

"Yeah, but guys, that doesn't explain why he came to the conference. He knows he can't interfere with the past, but he made sure Rocky came anyway. He told me that Rocky can reach people Dr. O can't, and that bringing him in from the start instead of later would make a huge difference."

Ethan went over the facts in his head over and over before coming to a realization. "Predestination paradox," he said.

The other three Dinos turned to him then. "What?" Trent asked.

"He came to the past from a future where we succeeded in order to ensure we succeed. He couldn't TELL you anything about the future, but his being there sort of... at least laid down the cement to put it in stone. It could still go tits up-"

"Go what up?" Kira snapped.

"Sorry, Kira. My project manager at work says that a lot. I guess it sort of fell into my vernacular. I'll try not to use it again," he said before continuing. "It means that things could still go wrong. There's always the possibility. But by coming to the past and making himself part of events, it creates a paradox. He can't be here to talk to you if he doesn't exist. And if he doesn't exist then it means we lost. Since he exists in order to come back in time and say hi, clearly we win. Same with when he came back to team up with Kira and the others in San Angeles. Every time he comes to the past it's a calculated risk meant to maximize our chances of success against this enemy."

"So why bring Rocky?" Conner asked.

"Why not? You said yourself that he told you Rocky's more connected than Dr. O is. What if this war happens and we win, but we lose a lot more Rangers in battle? What if the difference between scraping by and totally destroying the enemy is the numbers on each side? One Ranger for every 9 Tyrannodrones is a lot more dangerous than one Ranger for every 5."

"Oh..." Kira said with a nod. "That actually makes sense. Anyone that doesn't want to help Dr. O might come to help as a favor to Rocky. Bringing him in now means he has more time to work on tracking people down that otherwise might not make it to the final battle."

Trent and Ethan had to agree. "I'll talk to my dad," Trent said. "See if he can help with any funding we might need. And we'll have to bring Hayley in to work on rebuilding our morphers."

"Dr. O's already got her and someone else on that. The best of the best from what I've heard. We need to focus on combining our resources. Bridge asked me to help the the other rookies, and I can do that by traveling around. I've been scouting sites for new soccer camps so I don't really need an excuse to visit other Ranger cities. Kira, you can do the same when you go on tour. Reach where I can't. Ethan could you write a program to track Ranger activity so we can keep track of what powers and abilities are at our disposal? Not everyone has their powers, but if we can figure out what powers best compliment each other then if we have to, we can mix and match teams like Kira did on the Overdrive mission."

"Yeah! I'll do one better. Each team has their own specialty or power, like us and the Dino Gems. Or the Ninja Storm team. Powers best suited to each threat. If you get me as much information on this new enemy as you can I might be able to predict what combination of powers would be best suited to fight back."

Trent pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his contacts. "I have an idea. But... we're going to need some help."

"What?"

"A lot of the villains are either dead or reformed." He held up his phone to show them his long list of contacts. "I have here a goldmine of information from ex-Evil Rangers who've fought against different teams in the past. Of course, we'll have to bring Dr. O in on this because I start calling everyone in my support group asking what it was like to get blasted in the face he's going to have questions of his own."

Conner listened to his teammates as they brainstormed, and came up with a plan of action for the Rookies to work on while Dr. O and the Vets were preparing for the upcoming war. "Alright. We have a plan. Let's get to work on it as soon as possible and leave Dr. O to me."

Kira put a hand on his arm, leveling him with a concerned look. "Are you sure? He can be pretty scary when he thinks people are holding out on him."

"I can't tell him about Bridge, but if I tell him about Ethan's project I might be able to persuade him to let me handle the rest of the rookie teams while he deals with the Vets. He's already our mentor so it's not like he can't badger me for updates and reports whenever he wants."

"Are we really going to do this?" Kira asked, looking from one teammate to the next. "Are we really going to go back into the Rangering business?"

"It's either now or a few years down the line, Kira. I'd rather be over-prepared than dead. You haven't seen the footage Leo and Andros brought back of Eltar. Well... what's left of Eltar. I have. And I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. Even Mesagog."

 

_**SEVEN** _

 

The first thing she noticed when she came into the Lair from the back entrance in the cave system was the shouting.

The second thing she noticed was that it was her best friend and his husband doing all the shouting. At each other.

"....Great," she muttered under her breath with a sigh, nodding to Justin and Ethan with her.

"Given they’re not hoarse yet, probably only a few hours," Justin said with a slight groan.

Ethan looked from one to the other n slight confusion. "They do this a lot?"

Justin shook his head. "Not really. Usually they'll go spar when they're arguing. Shouting matches though? Pretty rare. And only when Jason's really pissed off."

"And only when Tommy's being a stubborn fool," Hayley added as she reached out to pull down the jawbone of the fossil in the wall. As the wall opened up to allow them entry, neither man seemed to notice the three techs enter as they continued to shout at each other.

"-all this time! Are you insane!?"

"I knew you'd do this! Every time, Jason! Look I'm not happy about it!"

"You look happy to me!"

"It's not like I WANT to use it!"

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before! It's too dangerous and you damn well know it!"

"I'm not saying it's a good option just that it IS an option!"

Hayley wasted no time in lifting her briefcase up onto a table and popping the latches. She pulled out a plastic baggie with brightly colored foam plugs and pulled out to neon green ones to plug into her ears, then offered them to Justin and Ethan.

With ears plugged to the shouting going on behind them the three went to work on what they'd come to do. Hayley sat with different models of morphers spread out around her. Ethan sat at a computer with Justin going through data to plug into his Pick-And-Mix Ranger team program.

After another hour and a half the three techs realized the Lair had quieted down and only one of the angry men remained with them. Hayley got the attention of the two Blues and indicated that it was safe to open their ears back up.

"What in the world was that about?" was Ethan's first statement outside of his work with Justin.

Jason was leaning against one of the cave walls near the main computer bank, arms crossed and his head bowed in thought. "He's being a stubborn, reckless ass."

Hayley sighed and rolled her eyes. "When isn't he?"

Jason lifted his head. Dark, midnight eyes boring into her with such intensity it made her skin crawl. "Did you know?"

"Know what?"

"The dragon power coin. Did you know?"

"That he still had it? Yeah. I found it in his dorm when I had to take him home drunk. It's... how I found out about the superhero thing."

Jason turned his gaze to Justin. "You?"

The younger man shook his head. "Before my time. I thought it was destroyed with the other original coins."

Ethan turned away from his computer, tilting his head a bit. "Is that what you two were fighting about? That he still has it? The powers were lost years ago. Even I know that." The Lair fell silent, save for the sound of computers humming and the occasional distant rumbles of the raptor rider's from their nests deep in the caves. "Right?"

"The Z-Wave broke the curse on the coin preventing Tommy from using those powers," Jason said finally as he unfolded his arms and pushed off the wall. "He wants to use it instead of his Zeonizer if he gets called to duty."

Hayley visibly paled, eyes widening in shock. "It's too dangerous. Not with his White Ranger grid links. The two sets of powers are polar opposites of one another. In order for it to even be considered an option is if he was stripped completely of his White Ranger powers. All of them. But doing so will completely destabilize his connection to the Morphing Grid."

Ethan frowned. "So what you're saying is that his first set of powers work again, and he wants to use them. But to use them he has to give up all his other powers-"

"Not all. Just his White Ranger abilities," Justin said. "But... his Ninjetti powers are tied directly to his Zeo Ranger powers. It's part of why the Zeo crystal bonded to him as tightly as it did. His turbo powers were built upon a foundation of his Zeo powers. But those shouldn't be an issue since he passed them to TJ."

As Hayley and Justin tossed ideas back and forth, trying to pick apart how it theoretically might be possible for Dr. O to use his first, original powers again, Ethan was struck with an idea.

"Jason," he said suddenly, rising from his station to move to the main computers. "I have an idea. Back when the Doc disappeared for a few days Conner, Kira, and I watched a video diary he made about his life. One of the clips we saw had you wearing his gold shield."

"Yeah. When he was losing his powers he transferred it to me so I could hold onto what was left of it for him. That way Zedd wouldn't get hold of them. He ended up getting his coin back, but the powers did finally fail for good. At least, that's what we thought."

Ethan nodded, bringing up Dr. O's Grid access program. "What if instead of trying to undo the layers of powers he has, we transfer the Green power to another of his forms? Like he did when he gave you the power shield."

"What do you mean?" Hayley had gotten up from her workstation, coming to peer over Ethan's shoulder as he worked, bringing up the different parts of the Grid where Dr. O's powers were linked. One was damaged, but the data could still be brought up. The link to the Turbo power was dormant, because another Ranger had primary access to it.

"Hypothetically," Justin said, perching himself on a stool high enough to see over Ethan's head. "What would happen if we combine Ranger forms? I know we can't recover his White Tiger form, but what would the outcome be if the two were combined?"

"Mental instability," came an all to familiar voice behind them. Jason and Hayley turned their attention him, with Jason slowly following. Ethan continued to work on pulling up as much information as he could. "What? You didn't think you could poke at every single point I'm linked to the Grid and I wouldn't notice?" He shook his head.

"What does it feel like?" Justin asked, clearly intrigued.

"Sort of tickles. But there's no single place it tickles. Just- It's really annoying and I'd appreciate it if you stopped."

Jason leveled him with a hard look. "You're a self-sacrificing idiot. But you're my self-sacrificing idiot and if you're so damn determined to do this then we're going to find a way that won't end up with you dead."

Justin leaned forward, hands gripping the seat of the stool and his body looking like he was going to tip right over into the floor. Long gangly legs stuck out at odd angles as his heels rested on a bottom and a middle rung of three down each side. "Forget the rest of that. What do you mean by mental instability?"

Dr. O pulled out a chair and sat down, facing his friends and husband. Ethan continued to work, but listened along. "The White Ranger and Green Ranger powers are opposites at their core. It's hard to explain unless you've experienced them both. But... Green... it seeks power. Dominance. It was a very fine line between waking up and wanting to stop the monsters and stop the Rangers, even after Rita's spell was broken. It's greed and vainglory. Everything that the White isn't. The First White can't be controlled by outside forces. It's incorruptible and selfless. It was created of pure light while the Green thrived in darkness. If anyone were to try and wield both sets of powers in an active state at the same time they will lose their mind. My body might handle it, but it would alter my mind in a way that would make the evil Trent look like a boy scout."

Jason was about to say something when Ethan cut in. "The Grid is essentially a giant computer fueled by the Power, guided by it like a sentient AI. But ultimately it controls what we can and can't access. It's similar to my predictive program. Analyzing a potential threat and designing and creating sets of abilities that are best to combat it."

"Yes, we know. This isn't exactly anything new," Dr. O said from behind them.

Ethan swiveled in the chair. "No it's not. But it also gives us a possible solution to your problem. From what I can see in your Grid program, all Rangers have built in limiters to their abilities. Except you. And Trent."

"What?"

"Come here and look," he said. Hayley and Justin made room between them as Jason crowded in closer on Ethan's other side. Ethan pulled up the information for his own team's powers on one monitor, then Dr. O's Black Dino Ranger on another. "Let's look at special weapons first." He called up the data on his, Kira's, and Conner's individual weapons. Then information on the Brachio Staff of the Black Dino. Then, he combined the data of the three primary colored weapons. "Even combined, our weapons are only half as powerful as your Brachio Staff. The only thing as powerful as it was Trent's Drago Sword," he said, calling that one up on a third monitor. He let them see the data before sending it off and calling up the Ranger powers themselves.

Then pulled up footage from the archives. Footage from their own battles. "Hayley and I were going over battle data back when we could still morph. We were trying to find a weakness in Zeltrax because he thoroughly wiped the floor with me, Conner, and Kira. We could take on Elsa no problem. But Zeltrax was too strong for us."

Jason watched the footage with a frown, then glanced at Tommy from the corner of his eye. Clearly his husband could hold his own against the cyborg, morphed or unmorphed. "Usually," he said from the other side of Ethan. "The tank goes after a team's Red."

"He had a personal vendetta against me," the science teacher said. "I didn't know why for most of my time as a Ranger again."

"Yeah..." Jason said as Ethan stopped the footage and went back to the data. "That just reminds me too much of Goldar and Scorpina. Goldar would always single me out but Scorpina would take on anyone anywhere and any time. Vendetta aside, did this Zeltrax guy make you his pet project?"

"Yeah. Blinded him to everything else."

"Like Goldar. After he figured out I'd left he didn't fight Rocky with the same enthusiasm as he did me."

"Rocky never pushed his limits like you did."

Ethan coughed to bring their attention back to the matter at hand. "Guys... look, the point is Zeltrax was so strong he could wipe the floor with the rest of us. But not Dr. O. Because Dr. O has no limits. It's like that one show... Justin, you might know what I mean. Every time the main guys face an enemy stronger than them, they get beat up a lot and then suddenly get a power boo-"

"Oh yeah! That one! Man, I used to get so mad when I had to fight Divatox's monsters after school. Didn't catch up on it until the rest of the guys went to space. My dad got me the entire VHS set that Christmas... So you think Tommy's like that?"

"In a way, yeah. I mean, every fight with the Tyrannodrones the rest of us had to morph so we wouldn't get our skulls caved in. But Dr. O wouldn’t even bother most of the time and still manage to come out with maybe a ripped shirt. Maybe."

Dr. O sighed, standing up straight and stretching his back. "I helped make them. I knew where their weaknesses are-"

"He used to do the same thing with the Piranhatrons. Usually we wouldn't morph until Tommy gave the word if he was around."

Jason shook his head. "It's the Code," he said as he glanced back at Tommy. "Rule Two, don't escalate a fight unless Rita forced us. Putties were small time monsters that we had to learn to fight without morphing. Morphing was meant to be used when there wasn't any other option. You'll find a lot of us who worked under Zordon fight this way."

Ethan nodded his understanding. "Still... think about this a minute. Why would Dr. O be the only one, aside from Trent, with no limiters placed on his abilities? The Power doesn't do anything without a reason. Heck, one of his morphs was made from scratch by Zordon himself. The first deliberately engineered Ranger that we can see. All the others just sort of... happened. You'd think with the damage the Green Ranger had caused and the power he had at his finger tips, Zordon would be careful and build in the same fail-safes the Power puts in. But according to this, he didn't. Dr. O was left completely unchecked and free to push beyond even normal Ranger limits."

Hayley and Justin stared at the information flowing across the screens. On each of the six monitors was one of Dr. O's Ranger forms. Green. White. White Ninjetti. Red Zeo V. Red Turbo. Black Dino. Each one building upon the other, adding another layer of power. "We can't restore his original White Ranger power, but maybe... we can take the remnants of it and combine it with some of the others except for the Red Turbo power, and use that to temper the Green Ranger power."

Justin and Hayley caught on relatively quickly. "But the White and Green are incompatible. You heard what Tommy said about combining the two."

"It's too dangerous. You can't honestly be saying what I think you're saying. Even if we could there's an element of magic involved that we simply can't do."

Jason glanced at Tommy, who stared back at him with his jaw set as the three techs talked in circles around one another, trying to figure out how to make the hypothesis work.

"Or," Dr. O said loudly so he could be heard over them. "I could just morph, fight, and then demorph like normal," he said, watching Jason. "And if I start to slip, Jason knows what to do."

"Not an option," Hayley said. "We won't let that happen. Neither of you should be put into that position ever again."

"He's right though, Hayles. The moment he breaks Rule One, he wouldn't have the protection of the Power anymore. I would be able to take him down if I had to."

"You shouldn't have to," Hayley snapped in frustration. "You two are so... so... You're so damn stubborn and bullheaded! So help me if you morph and we haven't figured out how to fix your powers the Red Ranger will be the absolute LEAST of your problems! I'm a rocket scientist for God's sake! If anyone can figure this out, it's me!" All eyes were on her now as Ethan started to edge away from the computers. "Now, if what Ethan thinks is correct, we can use the computers to access the Grid and re-write the programs that control your powers. We can't create new powers for you, but we can edit them like computer code. Which is what I do best." Dr. O opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. "Now, go upstairs, get your morphers - all of them Thomas Oliver - and bring them back to me because we are going to need them if we're going to help you not turn into a potentially tyrannical and unstoppable evil Ranger."

They had a staring contest before Jason threw up his hands and started towards the stairs. "Fine, I'll do it. I need some air anyway."

**o0o**

Once Hayley had gone back to work on the old morphers, now including all of Tommy's, Jason left towards the cave system, with Tommy following not far behind.

They left the techs to their work and navigated their way out of the caves and back into the fresh air and daylight of the forest. Finally, Jason stopped at a creek, standing with his arms crossed over his chest as he often did when he wasn't sure what else to do with them.

"Jase, look. I know you're not happy with this-"

"Not happy? Tommy I haven't been happy since we found out about the destruction of Eltar. We're running an international Power Ranger organization out of the basement and coordinating multiple teams of people who never should have been put into this position in the first place. When I gave Rocky my powers, I thought the trade off was a normal life. When you gave your powers to TJ I thought maybe, finally, you were ready for that, too. Not... not THIS. I don't WANT to be a Ranger anymore."

"I know. You never asked for this. Neither of us did," Tommy said, coming up alongside him and reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder. "But we do the best we can with what we have. I can't use all of my White Ranger powers. Hell, I can't even morph into that form anymore. My Dino Gem's drained and the morpher for it fried. TJ has my Turbo powers and the Zeonizer has maybe one more morph in it before it shorts out for good."

"But Green? Knowing how it changes you?" He shook his head, refusing to look at him. "Damn it, Tommy! I love you, but you know if you go through with this... if you can't handle it..." He couldn't look at him, not with what he was about to imply. "Ever since Divatox... I'm just as strong as you are now, maybe stronger."

"I know you are. Knowing what we know about my powers now, I'm counting on it," Tommy said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. "If they're right it won't come to that. We can temper the Green. Ground it and make it less competitive. Less... angry and violent. I'm older now, too. More experienced with the Power. I'll be able to control it instead of it controlling me."

"I hope you're right."

**o0o**

After months of testing and programming, along with many conference calls and Skype with the techs of various teams (and the help of Alpha 6 on loan from Adam), they were ready for the first test. Justin stayed back in the Lair while Hayley, Jason, and Tommy went into the woods. The location was chosen because there was less chance of damaging anything should things go wrong.

She had her Grid monitoring equipment set up, and had modified the fossil detector to take the readings for her. "Jason, you go first so I have a baseline reading for your team's morphing signature."

The Red Ranger nodded, the words she didn't say hanging heavy in the air among them. If things went wrong, Jason would already be morphed and waste no time before intervening.

He reached behind his back, unclipping the morpher he had tucked there beneath his shirt. He held it a moment, his fist closed over the familiar weight as he drew a deep breath. He opened his eyes when he felt Tommy's hand on his arm. "It's now or never," the many colored Ranger said. He gave a reassuring squeeze and stepped back.

Jason gave a small nod, indicating that he was ready and made sure he was in direct line of the equipment. Muscle memory took hold as he brought the morpher up before him, heart beating out a samba in his chest as he let the trigger word roll off his tongue.

 _ **"TYRANOSAURUS!"**_ he called out, allowing the power to flow through him for the first time since the Moon mission. Feeling the familiar fire in his veins as the powers left over from his encounter with Divatox melded and molded against his true power - his First Power.

When the energy pulse that accompanied his transformation subsided, he stood in the forest, clad in the familiar form fitting spandex of his uniform. Bright red against a backdrop of green and brown. He drew a deep breath, the weight of the helmet comforting as his body re-adjusted to the over abundance of energy coursing through it. "Did you get what you needed?" he asked the tech.

She was pouring over the data she had collected, unable to hide the excitement in her face as she watched Ethan's software unravel the information before her eyes. "This is incredible," she said. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen. And I helped develop the Dino Morphers!" She had to fight to tear her gaze away from the portable monitor she had brought out with them. "I can see why everyone is so concerned about Tommy's Green powers. If they're anything like this... We're just lucky Trent's powers weren't this strong."

"We had a lot more time to hone ours. I was a Ranger a lot longer than your kids and we got power boosts from time to time when a new enemy appeared."

She nodded her understanding as Jason moved out of the way. He and Tommy met half-way, the red helmet tilting forward some as Jason spoke softer for only his other half to hear. "You can still back out of this."

Tommy sighed, shoulders relaxing just a little as he reached up to slide a hand behind the red helmet. He pressed their foreheads together, separated by one single piece of armor. "I have to do this, Jase," he said. "You've seen what's out there, what they can do. We have to pull out all the stops. We need the biggest weapons in our arsenal."

"If this goes bad..."

Brown eyes stared into the black visor of the helmet in front of him. "You’re my Red. It's your job to keep me in line. Do what you have to do."

There was a cough from beside them. "Gentlemen? Not that I don't like nature, but I really don't like nature. So lets get this over with so I can do my job."

They stepped away from one another, Jason moving to take his place beside Hayley and her equipment as Tommy took his place in front of the sensors. Hayley flipped a switch, starting a camera that was set up alongside the equipment. They all thought it would be best to record the experiment. Whether it succeeded or failed, they could analyze the visual evidence later for anything she might have missed the first time.

"Rolling," she said.

Tommy nodded, reaching behind himself for his oldest morpher. It was tinged gold where all the others had been silver. "It's morphin' time," he said, bringing the morpher up before him and shouting his trigger word for the first time in over ten years. The word he thought he'd never have to say again.

_**"DRAGONZORD!"** _

There was a flash of green. Power untapped for over a decade flared from within winding through him and filling him. It was strong. Stronger than he had felt in years.

"These readings are incredible!" Hayley exclaimed as Jason drew a deep breath, placing his hand on the blaster hanging off his hip, ready to act if necessary.

Tommy ignored them, following instead the sensations pulsing through him. With each of his morphed forms, he had always felt a different point in his body surging with Power. Green had always begun in his chest. From his heart. The White had always begun from his head. The center of his forehead and washed over him like water, dousing the dragon fire that had always burned within him. The Falcon had always come from his gut. Instinct, pure and simple. The power of his Zeo Crystal had always emanated from his wrists - where the two pieces of the morphers would reside before being joined together. His Turbo powers had always felt artificial. Coming from without rather than from within. A foreign power attempting to place its influence over him. That was the true reason he had no qualms of passing it on to another. It didn't feel like it had belonged.

These points within him came alive now, pulsing and warring and fighting for dominance.

As his uniform settled and his morph attempted to stabilize, he staggered back. Jason took a step forward, but Tommy held up his hand. "Stay back," he said hoping he had managed to keep the pain out of his voice.

He focused his breathing, trying to will his powers under control. Lord knows he had many more years of practice and discipline since the last time he'd worn the Green suit. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, the conflicting links to the Grid felt like they were going to tear him apart from the inside.

 _"POWER DOWN!"_ he shouted, banishing the Power back to the ether as he fell to a knee. Jason was at his side, instantly crouching beside him. He wrapped a red clad arm around him, holding him up.

"Tommy?"

His lungs burned as he drew in a shaky breath. "Did she get what she needed?"

"I don't know," Jason said. "Your morph... It.. it was changing. Shifting into something else."

Tommy swallowed, looking up into the black visor of the familiar red helmet. "Almost every grid link activated at the same time."

"That's... that should have killed you."

Tommy gave him a weak smile, struggling to get to his feet with help. "Takes a lot more than that. To get rid of me," he said.

Jason frowned, thankful that no one could see his face. He pulled one of Tommy's arms up, draping it across his own shoulders as he helped him out of the clearing they'd chosen. "We'll see you back at the house," Jason said to Hayley as she began shutting down her equipment and packing it away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the different ways that Tommy is linked to the Morphing Grid is inspired by the fact that each ranger team has a unique morph sequence, power, and link to the grid. The fact that Tommy's been on 4 teams with six distinct sets of powers (because White Tiger and The Falcon are two different power sources despite sharing a fully morphed uniform/costume) it would make sense that each different Ranger form he's had would be connected in a different way and to a different point of his body.
> 
> The White Ranger (orignal version) link was inspired by the idea of chakras, with the White Ranger being wholly good and pure and created from light, it made sense to me to put it at the third eye or the crown (i couldn't decide which so i chose the third eye despite the Crown being considered the connection to the divine).
> 
> Tommy also having NO limits to his powers and abilities could be an explanation for why he's always been able to take on more and more powers easier than everyone else, and give a reason for why the Power itself always seems to like him the best.


	3. Chapter 3

**EIGHT**

  

2011.

A new team had been called by the Power.

Everyone breathed a little easier now that there was another team.

Jason sat in a booth, watching out the window of the cafe as he and his traveling companion waited for their coffees.

"Tell me why I got dragged into this again?" the man in green and black muttered across from him.

"Because Tommy couldn't get out of work and I didn't want to come our here alone."

Adam rolled his eyes and shook his head as he turned his attention to his phone. Tapping away with a bored look on his face. "And it has nothing to do with the fact that you shoved all of his morphers in your bag when he wasn't looking, right?"

Jason shook his head and smirked before turning his attention back to the window. "If he's yelling at you, tell him it was for his own good and he knows he can't work on that damn experiment without me there." They'd been in town a few days after the first official sighting of the new Ranger team, and two weeks after the Grid's early alerts warned them of an impending threat.

It wasn't that hard to spot Rangers if you knew what to look for.

"Ethan wants to know what we've found out so far. And Hayley wants to know how their morphers work."

"We've only been here three days!"

"What do I tell them?"

"We need more time to watch them," Jason said as the waitress brought their coffees finally. He thanked her politely before picking up his cup an taking a sip. "Heads up," he said, drawing Adam's attention from the phone to the window.

Adam watched the color coordinated teens pass by across the street. Sure, it could have been any group of young people. Sure the odd overabundance of a single color in each one's wardrobe could simply be because it was their favorite colors. But years of experience watching and spotting active, retired, and potential Rangers told him otherwise. He sipped his coffee. "It looks like a standard Zeo formation," he said. "No sign of a black. But plenty of green."

"Good thing you still have your morpher then. If they need a stand in..."

"You try saying no to a disembodied ancient knight who just appears in the middle of the night in your bedroom. If you were in my position you'd have said anything to make him go away."

"Don't tell me... you weren't-"

"They fell off the bed."

" _They?_ " Jason asked, raising a brow and turning to look at him.

Adam smirked, lifted his cup to his lips again and took another sip. "So," he said instead after a moment. "Didn't see any obvious morph devices. I don't think anyone's used a wrist or cuff since Tommy's kids. A lot of them have cell phone based morphers now. And have you seen what the core Jungle Fury team's got? Sunglasses. Don't even have to hide them. Just claim they're custom shades and people don't even think twice."

Adam and Jason spent the rest of the week in Panorama City observing the new team and reporting back to home base in Reefside what they'd learned.

Months later it was Kat who had won the betting pool on what color the new Samurai team's Sixth would be. She'd guessed Gold and won the pot as well as a week's vacation to New York courtesy of Zack and Tanya.

**o0o**

The Samurai Rangers had been around for quite a while. Longer than most teams since the old days. It was a year later and they'd gained a power boost. Secondary morphed forms. Something that had troubled the techs and the only man alive with more than four links to the Grid.

It was definitely a situation worth keeping an eye on, that was certain. Especially at a time when Andros and Leo had sent word that Phaedos had fallen. Dulcea, former keeper of the Great Power, was no more. All that remained of her legacy resided in those Rangers who had sought her out to save Zordon.

Jason wasn't home when Tommy had gotten the news when it came. When he returned, he found Tommy in the back yard, wearing white, and doing katas to calm his mind and control the raging storm within him.

**o0o**

2012 was the year the Reds decided it was time to let everyone else in on the secret. To give everyone who couldn't morph their powers back. Broken morphers repaired. New ones created to replace the old. Magic users pulled in from all throughout Ranger history - given a singular task - to recreate that which was lost.

It was not easy. It had taken years of work, but finally the head of their tech team had given word.

"It's time," Billy had said in his e-mail. And that was all it had said.

Tommy set about making the calls. It had to be a weekend. Principal Randall-Mercer wouldn't let him take time off during standardized testing weeks. It took much coordination, but he managed to get most of them to agree to come out to Reefside for a reunion.

There were some, unfortunately, he couldn't reach. And eventually had to give up on trying. Too many disconnected numbers, shut-down email addresses and abandoned messenger apps all leading to a dead end.

So it was decided. The last Saturday in April he and his fellow Rangers would all get together again for the first time in a long time.

**o0o**

Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent all sat on a log in the back yard of Dr. O and Jason's place. Though the four of them were well into adulthood now and far removed from their days as students, calling their mentor Tommy still felt awkward.

"I wish Hayley could be here," Kira had said. "After everything she's done for us, it just doesn't seem right to leave her out of something like this."

"I know. But... it has to be this way. She's not one of us, not really."

"She should be," Kira protested her leader.

Conner had nodded in agreement. "I agree. But this is... this is too big. We're lucky Dr. O pushed so hard for US to be here. If they knew what was happening tonight, they wouldn't want anyone but their own around. Like us and the Rookies. They get pretty jittery when the old guys show up. But us? We’re younger and closer to their age. Compared to these guys, we're the kids."

"You could say that again," piped up a voice before a lanky body plopped down beside Trent. "I swear, if I spend any more time here the old man's probably going to start charging me rent."

Trent laughed and reached out to give his friend a friendly slap on the back. "It's good to see you again too Justin."

"You'd see a lot more of me if you came out of your cave once in a while."

"I come out of the studio."

"Once a week for group doesn't count, Trent. I hardly ever see you anymore."

The two men bickered quietly, and good naturedly, at the end of the log as the three Core Dinos sat back nursing their drinks and watching the rainbow of people continue to trickle in. Ethan watched as the tall blonde Australian woman arrived, dressed in a short sleeved pink dress with a white sweater. He brought his cup to his lips as beside him Conner rubbed at the silver cuff on his wrist, reminding himself of the warm power that resided there once again. Recharged and fully returned to him. A sense of rightness and of home again.

"We needed a Pink. Then Trent could have been a real Sixth," Kira said as she too watched the Pink arrival. The only Pink. But they knew better than to say anything. Instead, "I wish I could have met Trini. It would have been nice to meet the first Yellow."

Jason came around behind them and grabbed a folding chair to make himself comfortable. "She'd be proud of you for all you've done in her color. She'd have loved that your Dino’s a pterodactyl, too. Her and Kim were really close even before we were Rangers."

Kira turned to look up at him. "You think so?"

"I know so."

He sat with them a little longer, keeping his eye on the time. There was food and drink a plenty to keep everyone occupied as they caught up. Meanwhile, the Dino Thunder team was keeping a head and color count.

"Rocky's not here," Conner said as the sun was going down and the fire-bowl was lit.

Kira shrugged. "Ask Adam?"

"Not here either. Which is weird," Ethan said. "Adam's always the first one to jump when Dr. O calls."

Justin shrugged. "Guess we'll have to start without them."

"No way. This is too important to start without them. I'll go talk to Dr. O," Trent said, leaving the small group to weave into the crowd of Rangers easily.

**o0o**

Tommy had waited as long as he could. Even giving an extra half hour at Trent's insistence. During that time, Adam had finally arrived, having closed the dojo on his own and then driving all the way from Angel Grove after. The man had inexplicably started wearing more green than black these days. Though it made sense given what Hayley and the techs had been working on for the last few years.

He'd noticed it with Rocky a time or two as well. More blue, less red.

Speaking of...

"He's on his way," Adam said. "But he's stuck in traffic. He'll be here, but he doesn't know how long."

"Any word from..."

"Nope," Adam said with a shrug. "Not since Trini's..."

Tommy nodded. "Go sit with the others. I've got some important news for everyone."

"Does this have to do with that Red thing Rocky's tied up in and won't tell us about?"

Tommy nodded."Yeah. It does. It's why we've been running mismatched teams out of the basement the last few years." Tommy nodded towards the fire bowl and the friends gathered around it. "I'll meet up with you guys in a few minutes. I need to get something." He went inside, followed shortly after by one of his Dino kids.

Trent.

Adam settled on a log between Tanya and Kat, draping a friendly arm across both their shoulders and pulling them into a hug.

Soon, Tommy returned with his White Ranger, the two men carrying a briefcase each. Adam couldn't keep the frown from his face as the two men came to a stop and set them on the ground. They spoke quietly to one another before Trent took his place with the younger Rangers again, the five of them - four Dinos and the one Blue Turbo - leaning in close to whisper amongst themselves as Tommy drew a deep breath, and started his spiel.

"A couple years ago all the Reds got together at NASADA..."

Adam glanced at Jason across the fire, sitting between Zack and Billy. Off to the right, closest to Tommy, were his most recent team and Justin. To the right of Zack was Aisha. Then Kat, then himself and Tanya. As he considered how everyone had seated themselves he realized they had self-segregated. The Sixth and kids. The ones that were chosen and drawn by the Power rather than by the floating head in a tube. The Accidental Blue who never should have been given a morpher, but for a twist of fate and a freak injury he discovered their identities.

The Originals. Zordon's Firsts - or what was left of them. Black, Red, and Blue. The Replacements. The second string, third if you remembered that Yellow passed through three hands not two... even if Zordon's Yellow had been buried with honor and care she was there with them, at one with the Power in spirit.

Something Tommy said drew Adam's attention back to him. The man who was the weird, strange link between each version of the teams sitting in his back yard.

"-Phaedos was destroyed. Aquitar and Triforia are holding the line but... it may not be enough. The Astro team and the Lost Galaxy teams are doing their best but there's not enough Rangers to go around to hold off the threat."

"Tommy," Adam said from his place among his Zeo team. "Rocky won't like it but if you need me, just say the word."

"Me, too," Kira said from her place with the younger team. "The Sentinel Knight gave us our powers back, and don't think we haven't noticed we're the only ones that don't get asked to cover a couple missions."

Tommy nodded. "That's why I wanted Everyone here tonight. Billy, Hayley and the Blues have been working on something." He picked up a case and nodded at Trent. The two briefcases were opened an nestled inside...

"Morphers!" Zack exclaimed as Tanya gasped and covered her mouth to keep her jaw from hanging. "Tommy-"

"None of us really got a choice before, and Zordon certainly didn't tell us what the hell we were going to be facing. This time I'm giving you the option. There's a team out there now but they might not be enough on their own when the Armada comes. I'm not asking any of you to grab a morpher and go right back in the fight. Just to be ready if the time comes that we're all Earth has left."

He looked from one side to the other, gauging their reactions as best as he could. He stood with briefcase open in his arms, and Trent sat on the log nearby, another open in his lap.

Aisha was the first to stand, the firelight casting a warm glow as her shadow danced along behind her from her place in the center of the teams. She glanced at Trent's case first, then moved to Tommy's. Reaching up, she squared her shoulders and stopped, hand hovering over an old style silver morpher. So shiny and new, but so familiar at the same time. The faint yellow glow it emitted told her exactly which one it was. Sabertooth.

"I don't want to do this," she said, looking Tommy straight in the eye. "But I like this planet. I live here, too. And it's what Trini would do."

Aisha picked up the morpher, taking it out of the case and turned, holding it in both hands as she went back to her place between the teams.

"Anyone else?" Tommy asked.

Slowly, and one by one his friends came forward to find their new-old morphers. Kat, Zack, and Adam were last, hesitating around the case Trent held in his lap.

"Tommy... how exactly are we going to do this? There's no-"

"Adam, how do you feel about green?" Kira asked from her place beside Trent. "I know you look good in black and all but..."

"Yeah. Alright. I'll take the Zeonizer," he said, reaching into his pocket and finding his restored Mastodon morpher, offering it to Zack. "This was yours first anyway. I've just kept it warm for you, buddy."

"You can have it back when all this is over. Not that I don't love you guys but my days as a Ranger are way past over. This, is a one time deal." He looked at Tommy. "Don't call me for a fight unless it's the big one, you got me?"

"Yeah, I got you pal. Trust me, I won't be calling any of you for a fight until there's no other choice."

When Adam and Zack had cleared off, Kat was still dithering. "Tommy?... I'm unsure which..."

He understood exactly what she meant.

Jason watched Kat as Aisha watched him. "What about you, Jase?" she asked as Kat tried to decide which morpher to take.

"Yeah, I've had mine for a while. Moon mission."

"Right... the one Rocky was complaining about missing."

He nodded. "He's going to kick himself for missing this. I know he's been itching to get back into the suit."

"Well, from the way you guys all tell it he was taken out of the fight too soon."

Jason nodded. "Hayley did a custom job with his blue Zeo suit. Added extra supports for his back, and a tougher nano-fabric that will armor up if the damage gets too severe. Keep him from breaking his back again, we hope."

"I'm sure he'll love that."

Finally, Kat made her choice, giving a quiet word to Tommy as she strapped on her Pink Ranger Zeonizer. When she turned back to take her seat, Jason gave her a subtle nod of approval. She smiled softly, but sadly at him. They both knew why she made the choice she did. And they both knew the one meant for the other morpher... Well... Jason hadn't spoken to her since it seemed like she'd dropped off the planet. Not since he got back together with Tommy for good.

"What about you, Christmas?" Zack called from his seat. "You've got a whole rainbow to pick from now. I'd say you stole my color, but there's too much gold."

"Yeah," Adam said with a laugh. "With all that gold on his Dino suit, you'd think he'd stole another one from Jason." This got a good laugh from everyone, breaking the somber mood. "So what color WILL you pick for yourself?"

"It's a little more complicated than that," he said, moving closer to the fire bowl to toss half a log into it. "I've got too much of a good thing. The only stable morph I have is the Black Dino."

"But it's not the one you want."

Silence fell as Tommy's head snapped up to stare into the darkness past the circle of his friends.

"I think we all know which one Tommy wants, and he's an idiot."

When she came into view, with Rocky trailing behind her, she crossed her arms and cocked her head.

"Kimberly... You came. How-"

"Rocky's the only one I trust with my contact info. For exactly this reason." Jason could feel her eyes on him, briefly, and couldn't help but shift in his seat.

"You got two more of those?" Rocky said with a grin, nodding to the device on Adam's wrists. "Because I've been dying to get back in Blue."

Trent immediately picked up his case again, taking it to the remaining to veteran Rangers. Kim was unsure where to put herself, but decided ultimately to settle in beside Jason. After all, it only made sense.

"How's Graham?"

"He says hi. And to remind you he still treats me like a queen so please not to kill him."

Jason chuckled. "How long-"

"Two weeks. I'm staying at the Marriott here in Reefside," she said quietly to him, then made herself a bit louder. "So, gang, what'd I miss?"

**o0o**

Conner hung around after most everyone left. He needed to take care of some Rookie business in the Lair anyway and figured he'd spend the night HQ's spare bedroom before heading back to his parents place for his last night in town.

"So that was Kimberly," he said when Dr. O had descended the stairs into the lab. "I've seen pictures but man, she's pretty hot in person."

"She's also married, Conner."

"So?"

"To a non-Ranger."

"Oh..." he said. "So that explains a lot."

Tommy agreed, seating himself at Hayley's research station. "Most Rangers get involved with other Rangers."

"Why?"

"Shared experiences. Not having to hide or lie about our pasts. It's also a lot safer for everyone. If someone found out my identity and thought they could get to me by taking Jason, they'd be in for a nasty surprise." He shrugged. There really wasn't anything important for him to do tonight. But Tommy didn't feel like crawling into bed just yet. The fact Jason was already there was tempting... but his mind was too revved up to even think about sleep yet, let alone able to focus on anything else.

He hadn't expected Kim to show up. He'd had Hayley recreate her morpher and coin in the off chance, but never anticipated...

"But if they kidnapped Kimberly's husband..."

"Exactly. No one has ever cut off as completely as she did. Then again her and Jason went through something that none of us had even considered until it happened to them."

"That kidnapping from Divatox? When you guys got the Turbo powers, right?"

"Yeah. That changed how a lot of us deal with life after being a Ranger. It's why we set up the network. To keep in touch, help each other deal with life after. Or the aftermath of missions gone wrong."

 

**NINE**

  

It was a week before Kim came back out to the house on Valencia Road. She had spent the time since her arrival catching up with everyone. Tanya, Zack, and Kira all had to return to New York. Ethan back to work, and Conner had a soccer camp he needed to visit up in Panorama Bay.

Most of the others quietly went back to their lives after visiting with Kim that first week. All in need of time to adjust to the return of their powers and the gravity of what it meant.

They all knew Tommy was reckless with his own well being. But they also knew the man would never have involved them if he didn't have to. He valued them too much to risk their lives in such a way. It was why he presented it to them the way he did. A choice none of them ever truly had in the beginning.

It was for this reason that Kim had accepted her morpher. And it was this reason she came out to Valencia Road again when the others had gone back to their lives. She needed assurances that only Tommy would, could, give her.

When she arrived she found her old friends emerging from the forest with a red haired woman lugging equipment on a cart behind her. It was clear that whatever had happened had not gone well. She jogged over when they got a little closer. "Need a hand?" she called out, and didn't wait for an answer before grabbing Tommy's other arm and slinging it over her shoulders. With the man supported between them, at a slight angle due to the difference in her and Jason's heights, they managed to get him to the front porch and into a chair.

It wasn't until the woman pulled the cart up the steps with ease that Kim noticed it wasn't exactly your standard cart, hovering over the ground a few inches.

Once Tommy was settled, Kim stood back with her hands on her hips, giving her friends a hard, concerned stare. "What did you do?" Despite looking at both of them, the question was directed at Tommy. Just like it always had been whenever someone did something incredibly dangerous.

"I'll go start analyzing the data now."

Kim changed tactics, catching the woman before she went inside by offering her hand and a kind smile. "Hi, I don't think we've met. I'm Kimberly."

"Oh, I know," the woman said, deadpan with a frown. "I have work to do. We almost had it that time. A few more tweaks and we should have it," she said, going inside and pulling her cart behind her.

Kim stared after her, the offered hand falling to her side while her other hand returned to her hip. "What was that about?"

"Don't mind Hayley," Tommy said. "She always gets like this when I'm being dumb."

"Dumb is an understatement," Jason said, shaking his head and reaching down to squeeze his shoulder. "I'll give you two a few minutes. Then you're on the sofa with an aspirin."

"Jase-"

"You're not 16 anymore."

And that was the end of that argument. Kim was impressed when he didn't put up much more of an argument than telling Jason to get him an orange juice instead of water. Once they were left alone, the front door still open but the storm door closed, Kim looked around for something to sit on. She found a stool at a nearby table covered in machine parts and dragged it over to sit in front of him. "So..."

"So."

"Hayley was it?"

"Yeah."

"She seems... nice."

"Don't let her get to you. She's worried. We've been working on this project for a few years and still haven't made much progress."

"What project? Tommy, I know I haven't been the easiest person to find-"

"You moved on and built a life. It's all any of us want."

"Except you."

"Especially me," he said, turning his head some to look inside. "When I passed my powers on to T.J. that was it for me. I was done. I went to college. I found a life."

"Became a mad scientist."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that too," he said.

They spent the next half an hour talking. Just talking. No Ranger business, no memories of the good old days fighting side by side. Just... life and where it had taken them. The things they had seen and the people the had met. She chided him for not inviting her to the wedding, and he ribbed her for not inviting him to hers.

It felt all too soon when Jason appeared in the doorway again, a glass of orange juice and two aspirin in his hands. "Come on, Christmas."

"But Kim-"

"I'll give her a tour of the lair while you rest up."

It took the both of them to convince Tommy to lay down and rest. Kim had asked, once she and Jason were in the next room, what was going on with him. Why he was so weak and tired. Jason indicated they needed to go somewhere else to talk.

When she saw the model that acted as the secret trigger for the hidden entrance of the Bat Cave - the Lair, Jason had corrected her - she couldn't help but laugh. "Of course it's a T-Rex," she'd said with a laugh as they descended the stairs, the panel in the floor closing behind the.

"That better not be Tommy," Hayley called from her computers. The equipment she had brought down with her was now hooked up to the system, transferring data. The woman was currently watching a recording from the forest.

"Just me," Jason said when he and Kim reached the base of the steps. "Brought a friend."

"Of course you did," she said. "I think she's the only one that hasn't seen the top secret classified Ranger hide out under the house." The snark was unmistakable.

Kim smiled. "I think I'm going to like her," she said, approaching the computers. "Is this what you guys were doing in the woods today?"

Hayley glanced at her from the corner of her narrowed eyes.

"Go ahead, Hayles. I was about to tell her anyway."

"Tell me what?"

"I... I think it might be best coming from you. The raptors need feeding anyway," she said, swiveling in her chair and giving Jason a look that seemed to scream 'don't drag me into this I'm just the tech' before she smiled at Kim. "Good to finally meet you," she said before leaving them to it.

Jason rubbed a hand to his face with a groan as Kim sat herself in the vacated chair. The video playing out behind her looping back to the beginning again in slow motion.

"Jason, I know the situation is grim. If it had been anyone but Rocky calling me, I would have thought you all were overreacting again. Christ, Rangering is his life, and he just spent half an hour talking to me about fossils and grad school. That's not like him. What's going on with Tommy?"

"It's like you said last week at the fire. Black Dino is the most stable he has, but its not the one he wants. We've been working to try and get his old powers back."

"And that's what's doing this to him?"

Jason nodded, and despite his stoicism he could not hide his worry from Kim. She was closer to him than his own family, and at one time was closer to him than even Tommy. He could never hide from her scrutinizing gaze. "Yeah."

"And you're just..." She ran a hand through her hair. "Jase-"

"You know how stubborn he is. He won't let it go and there's nothing I can say or do to stop him. If Hayley and I weren't helping him he'd be trying to do this on his own and he'd get himself killed in the process. This way we can at least make sure he..." He let his words trail off, not wanting to think any more on what may happen. "He was a mad scientist after all."

"So I've heard," she said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. She clasped her hands beneath her chin as she watched her oldest friend. The only other person on Earth who had ever really understood her. Who had, in his own way, helped her deal with what had happened to them both in that volcanic temple. "What power is he trying for? Turbo has a Ranger still from what I understand. From what Kat's told me he still has his Zeonizer-"

"It's only got one charge left. And the Ninjetti is lost for good. There's no way to get those back."

"So that leaves... Wait." She thought about it a few moments, mentally going over who had what morphers and dismissing all but the Firsts. Jason, Zack, Billy, and herself. Aisha to replace Trini. No Ninjetti powers. Just the... "Please tell me he's not that stupid."

Jason nodded towards the monitors behind her. She half turned so she could see them. There, playing out in slow motion, was Tommy, struggling to maintain the Green Ranger form while his Black Dino energies kept trying to revert to normal.

"For a guy with a PhD he really is that stupid," Jason said.

"I'm going to kill him," she muttered.

Jason shrugged, turning his attention to another computer station where the predictive program Ethan and Justin had worked on was still running, collecting world-wide data on monster attacks and Grid activity. "You'll have to take a number. Hayley and I are planning to limit the number of hits people can take because there's so many already having to wait in line for their turn."

"You're kidding!"

Jason smirked. "I wish I was. We might even hold a raffle. Sell tickets to raise money and donate it to the museum."

"You wouldn't!...." she paused, narrowing her eyes. "Would you?"

He shrugged. "You've been gone a long time. A lot's changed."

She shook her head and laughed. "At least your wicked sense of humor hasn't," she said. "Much."

They talked a long time in the Lair, with Kim vacating the chair she'd claimed when Hayley had returned. So Jason gave his oldest friend the tour of the place.

"I know it's not much to look at, but it's home," he said when they'd come to the Raptor nests. They'd had to pass through on the way to the hangar where the Dino Thunder team's bikes and ATVs were stored. At first Kim was anxious, even as Jason reassured her that they'd been fed so they won't nip too much. The blue one kept nudging her with its snout until they were past.

"Trike's the curious one. But it's Ptera you've got to look out for. Tries to sneak out when she thinks no one's looking." Case in point he turned to catch the Yellow Ranger's Raptor Rider trying to slip out the door behind them as if she thought she were small enough not to be noticed. "I see you. Get back in there before I rat you out to your mother."

Kim stifled a laugh as the raptor snorted at him, gave a half-hearted roar as if she were a moody teenager, and crept back into the nesting chamber.

"They always get a little restless when the kids come back home."

"You did not seriously just refer to Tommy's last team as 'the kids'. Honestly, Jase. They're adults."

"Not my fault Tommy's half-way to adopting them anyway. Especially Trent."

"Which one was that again?"

"The one Justin keeps following around."

"Oh.... Dino White, right? I think I remember him coming by the hotel once with Justin... Was he the one with the-" She made claws with her hands and play-swiped at the air. "Grr. Argh."

"Yeah. Next time we deal with an actual Evil Ranger it'll probably be a Red."

"You mean the next time _Tommy_ has to deal with one."

Jason laughed as he continued to show her around the rest of the cave system, or at least the parts they utilized as part of Ranger HQ.

**o0o**

Kim hadn't intended to stay so late into the evening. But talking with Jason again, it reminded her of the late nights spent at their shared apartment in Miami. The pair of them waxing poetic of the pitfalls of loving active Power Rangers... especially the same active Power Ranger with his obnoxious pony tail and his too-earnest brown eyes and those big, strong hands...

Yeah... Kim had moved on, sure. And had wondered a time or two about the What Ifs. What If she had never agreed to meet for a coffee with that cute dark haired, brown eyed, big handed, clumsy buffoon she'd fallen head over heels for in Paris, who in no way had reminded her of the one she had left back in Angel Grove... Or if she had chosen to stay after Muiranthias... or if Maligore's power had also disappeared with the mind control and left her a normal, average gymnast...

Not that she didn't love her husband. It was for his protection, after all, that she had cut herself off from this world that welcomed her back not only with open arms but with laughter, smiles, and celebration like a long lost sister. But sometimes, even in her happy marriage, she had let her thoughts meander where they would, and more than once had pondered what it would have been like to be Mrs. Hart-Oliver.

And then she was reminded of the fact that the same man who could barely get his shit together to ask her to a school dance or on a date had so crassly thought it was perfectly okay to jump from her best friend's bed into the arms of her own Ranger Replacement. The e-mails and phone calls that had never quite told her everything. And then the late nights spent in listening to Jason curse everything from his own birth to Zordon for having been the cause for him to meet that "insufferable Christmas colored two-faced lying asshole". And with each rant in that vein Kim would often feel more and more like a hypocrite for having done the same thing to the man who'd done it to Jason.

But none of that seemed to really matter as she sat across the table from Jason, with Tommy between them, and the feast spread out before them. And it was a feast. It had to be, what with Jason morphing frequently enough to be on standby should something "go wrong" whenever Tommy attempted his foolishness. Just in case it worked and he had his full range of Green powers back... and with it the deadly side effects of the power he would wield.

"It's been so long since I've had anything you've made that I think I've died and gone to heaven."

"Yeah, well... it was mom's recipe."

"She was always such a great cook. And so are you," Kim said with a gentle smile, taking a sip of her juice.

Tommy was positively beaming. She hadn't seen that man so happy in years. Not since he'd revealed himself as the White Ranger to them in the command center. And if that didn't say something about their relationship after that event, she really didn't know what could. "You can take some with you if you want," he suggested. "Assuming you've got a, uh, mini-fridge and a microwave at the hotel."

She nodded, taking another bite rather than say what she was really thinking... which was to bite his head off for putting himself, and by extension Jason, at risk in his attempt to recapture his former glory. "That would be great, thank you." No. That lecture could wait for a day when she hadn't had to help carry him back to his house.

When they'd finished, Jason cleared the table, telling him to sit when she stood to help. "You're a guest," he said, taking her plate and empty glass, stacking them atop the others to take to the kitchen.

"So..." Tommy started, with nothing to follow it up with.

"So..." Kim repeated after him.

"Kim I'm-"

"Tommy I-"

They had started, and stopped, at the same time. Tommy ran a hand through his hair as Kimberly tucked some behind her ear. "You start," he said. "Besides, I don't think you drove all the way out here for conversation and dinner."

"No. You're right, I didn't," she said as she noticed Jason hadn't come back to get the left over food yet. He always did have a knack for giving people space even when he wasn't asked to. "You know why I walked away from all of this."

Tommy looked towards the kitchen briefly, then nodded. "I do. Graham's a good man and none of us blame you for doing what you had to do so he would be protected. I know you won't, but if you ever want to come back we'd all welcome you and Graham."

She fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, looking down at her hands in her lap. "Yeah... I know." Then, she looked up to meet his understanding gaze. "I told Rocky I didn't want any part of what's going on but when he told me about Eltar..."

"It hit all of us who knew Zordon harder than the others."

She nodded. "I told him to keep me posted. Justin let slip to Rocky about the project you've been working on. Getting all of our powers back and fixing all the broken morphers. The moment he told me what was going down I had to come. Just this once, for this one battle."

"I wouldn't ask more than you're willing to give. You know that."

"But you need everyone this time, otherwise you wouldn't be pushing yourself so hard to get the Green Ranger powers working without the dangers." She waited, and sure enough the guilty and embarrassed look he would always get when he'd show up late for a date crossed his face. "I need to know that if anything happens to me, you'll make sure Graham's taken care of. That he never finds out who and what I really am. I won't put him and my family in danger."

"You have my word. I can give it to you in writing if you want. Even have it notarized."

Before Kim left for her hotel, Jason had walked her to her rental car and put a tote of food containers in the front passenger seat for her. He hugged her tightly, afraid that if he let her go he would never see her again. "Don't be a stranger. At least email me once a year."

She wouldn't. But he knew that.

"Sure," she lied.

It hurt. But she knew that.

"Jase?" she asked, pulling out of his arms. "Don't let him ruin himself. Take care of him."

He nodded, and pulled her into another hug. "I will, Kimmy. I always do."


	4. Chapter 4

**TEN**

  

"We can't push it anymore, Tommy. I'm sorry," he said, taking off his glasses and setting them on the table beside the keyboard. "The qualities you are trying to remove are exactly what gives that form its stability. To continue to try and undermine those qualities, you introduce weakness to the form and ultimately a weakening in your life force."

"Can't you find a way to separate my life force from the power itself? Like you did with Kim?"

"Her power coin was stolen and she was subsequently placed under Zedd's contraption which hastened the process along. You still posses your coin, now free from the curse placed on it that was damaging to your person should you be foolish enough to try and use it again. What you are trying to do is control something that cannot be controlled."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if you continue down this path, Tommy, either the coin will pull the energy it needs to replace what you've tried to edit out of it from your life force, and kill you."

"Or?"

"Or the resulting energy backlash of the Grid repairing the damage you've done to the powers will be a force so powerful it will rip your body apart. You must restore the powers to their original state otherwise the result will be fatal. Face it, your experiments have failed." As Billy spoke, he watched Tommy's face cycle through his various expressions before finally landing on acceptance. "If you're foolish enough to proceed with using the Green Ranger power coin, you need to speak with Jason about a contingency plan. Without the full protection of the White Light that Zordon bestowed on you, you are vulnerable to the negative aspects of that power. If you were to begin to slip, we need to ensure the world is protected."

He didn't need to say it. They both knew what he meant. Tommy put a hand to his wrist, where he still wore his black Dino gem - reactivated just in case. An idea came to him then that he was surprised he hadn't thought of before. They were trying to use the Grid itself to edit his original powers and copy in aspects of the rest to balance it out. Maybe... maybe that was only half of the problem.

He remembered the coma - the fight for his life against his former selves when his Dino gem had broken into three pieces. The three forms that are bound to the very fabric of his being each had one. Maybe it was a sign. He had to conquer each form in order to fully master and repair his gem. To unlock the full power of the Brachio Ranger. Perhaps... perhaps because of its very nature it was compatible with all of his past forms - forms that had always been the leaders rather than support. The hotheads instead of the grounded and strategic fighters.

He took the cuff off, feeling naked without it on his wrist and offered it to Billy. "I have an idea. It might not work but I want to try."

"Even if it kills you?"

"I'd rather die trying than and know that I've done everything I could than to have done nothing," he said. "Take it. Analyze the gem and compare it to the coin. Energy signatures, composite materials, everything. I'll put the coin in crystal form for you. I want to know if we can possibly combine the two."

"Combine them? Tommy, the Black Dino energy is a support power and grounding force. Trying to combine that with the raw power of the Green Chaos crystal, even just the small piece that was used to create your power coin is-"

"A counter balance. Yin and yang. Besides, it's the only option I have left."

"You may not be able to ever take your Black Dino Ranger form again. Are you willing to take that risk?"

"I have to hope it will work."

Billy accepted the band bearing the black Dino gem with a sigh and a slow, uneasy nod. Then, from his pocket Tommy produced his old morpher and the Green Dragon coin. As he said, he put it in crystal mode before handing it over to him. "In the event of an emergency, your Zeonizer has been repaired and should be fully functional. I suggest you use that instead for a time."

When Tommy reached the steps leading up into his house from the Lair, Billy called after him. "And stop playing mad scientist!" he chided. "That's **_my_ ** job!"

**o0o**

The year was flying by in a furry of activity. The annual Ranger Reunion was canceled for the year, much to the annoyance of many of the older Rangers and the relief of some of the newer ones.

But it meant the danger of the Armada was looming ever closer. Jason and Tommy coordinated teams outside of the current hot zone of Panorama City, leaving that particular batch of monsters and creatures to the current _active_ Ranger team. Though they did keep an eye on them, from a distance, should the need for reinforcements arise.

Things had been quiet for a while though, which usually meant trouble for one of their allied worlds and underscored the need to keep Earth protected at all costs. To keep the Great Power entrusted to them by Dulcea safe and hidden.

The temporary peace did nothing to ease the veteran Rangers' minds as they reviewed the scenes sent back to them from Andros and his scouting missions. The Rangers were holding the line in their small corner of the galaxy but it was barely enough to maintain a stalemate. The small, independent factions that kept popping up on Earth outside of the Samurai team's jurisdiction were easy to deal with now. They stayed small. No need for zords... yet. But what would they do if one of the enemy scouts suddenly decided to become 20 stories tall? There were so few zords left and the current teams always operated best if they didn't know the vets were out there still. Fighting the threats that they couldn't everywhere else in the world.

Their cover would be blown, that was certain.

It was these thoughts that often plagued the man evil always seemed so eager to seek out. But that wasn't the only troubling concern he had. Amidst it all, he could feel something.. something just below the surface of the world they lived in. Something just beyond the limits of normal human perception. Something was building up in the Grid. With his numerous links to the otherworldly Power that gave them all the strength and ability to protect their world, their universe, he couldn't help but feel it.

He could always sense when a new team was coming. Sometimes, like in the case of his Dino Rangers, much stronger than others if he was meant to have a hand in it. But what he felt now as he sat in his in-law's garage on the cold, December day after the Samurai Rangers had defeated their big bad monster and completed what the vets considered _Ranger Boot-camp_ , was unlike anything he had felt since Zordon had bestowed him with the White Light of Goodness.

It was such a powerful feeling when it hit that had it not been for Jason's father catching him, he'd have hit the cement floor.

"You alright there Tom?" Mr. Scott asked as he helped Tommy back to his feet.

"Yeah..."

"You don't look so great. Why don't you head on back inside and send Jason out to help me with the boxes?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Just dizzy. It'll pass."

"You sure?"

Tommy nodded slowly, carefully so he wouldn't become disoriented again. "Just a left over from my old racing days," he said, reaching for a box once he knew he'd be steady on his feet again. It was a low blow, mentioning his old wreck like that considering what had happened to the man's wife not long before that. But it had always been a sure fire way to get his father-in-law to drop certain topics. Sure he knew the man had found out about their past as Power Rangers. But he really didn't want to have to lie about what he and the man's son were currently running out of the secret cave system beneath their house.

Especially not around Christmas.

He knew he'd have to tell Jason about it. There was no way he was the only one that felt that wave. He gave another small nod and held up the box he'd picked up. "Lets get all this inside so you and Jase can sort out what's going to the church clothing drive. These boxes won't sort themselves out."

**o0o**

It was hours before Tommy had the chance to talk to Jason about what had happened in the garage. They were sitting in the bed of the guest room of the Scott home - what used to be Jason's bedroom. Tommy pretended to read an old science journal while Jason gave up all pretense of doing anything productive and was playing a game on his phone.

"So you wanna tell me what's on that big brain of yours, Christmas?" he asked when it was clear the light wasn't going to be shut off any time soon.

Tommy sighed, laying the magazine in his lap as he rested back against the headboard. "It's the Grid."

"Of course... look. We've been over this. Billy will figure something out and-"

"Not that. Didn't you feel that energy wave earlier?"

"What energy wave?"

Tommy drew in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Well, that answered that question then. Jason, taking in the seriousness of the other man's body language set his phone aside, uncaring that he hadn't bothered to exit the game first and the annoying noise signaling a game over chirped at them softly from the bedside table. "What happened? You've been quieter than usual all afternoon. I thought it might have been just having to deal with all my mom's old stuff."

"Yesterday the latest team finished their run."

"Yeah. Conner's going out to Panorama City with Mack and Nick-"

"Nick?"

"Red Mystic Ranger."

"Oh... right. There’s too many of us for me to keep track of everyone anymore."

Jason shook his head. "Well, some Reds are going out there after New Years to make contact. Standard procedure. Everything's running smoothly that's why we're taking time off, remember."

"Yeah... but this isn't that. The Samurai just finished their mission, and the Grid is already gearing up to push out another team. But... this isn't like the last times. There's something-"

"You think this one might be the last before the Armada finally comes?"

Tommy nodded, then shrugged and sighed. "Maybe. I don't know. But there's something building up. Has been for a while I think but it was never strong enough for me to notice it until now. I don't know when and I don't know where but another team is coming. There hasn't been a Ranger team with powers this strong since Zordon gave your team their power coins."

"In case you've forgotten we weren't exactly the strongest of teams. Against Rita, sure. But Zedd? You guys had to get a power boost-"

"Don't doubt yourself," Tommy said, reaching out to run his hand down Jason's arm, brushing his fingers along the skin as it traveled down the length of the limb, only to lace their fingers together atop the ugly comforter between them. "The Power was there. We were just inexperienced kids. Put us into direct battle now? There's no telling how much damage just one of us can do, let alone the complete set of six."

It wasn't a complete set. Not really. Aisha was good. She was strong and confident and everything they would ever need in a Yellow Ranger... but she was no Trini Kwan. The only missing piece from their original set of six. "Hell Jase, you took on Goldar unmorphed and unarmed more than once."

"And you at your worst."

"I could chase you around with a sword for old time's sake if you want," Tommy said with a smile.

Jason squeezed his hand. "Just to prove a point of course," he said. "Now turn off the lamp. It's not that I don't want to listen to your latest existential crisis but this is heavy conversation that is better had over coffee or beer. I'm not picky about which."

 

**ELEVEN**

 

They were sitting in the living-room of Rocky and Adam's Stone Canyon bungalow with Aisha, Hayley, and Kira when the news came in the form of a special report - interrupting the basketball game they were watching.

Five colored blurs were all that could be captured on camera as they watched the report of monsters running rampant in Harwood County.

"An entire county," Aisha said, turning to her friends. "That's a first."

Adam looked to Tommy and Jason, both men frozen with pizza slices half-way to their mouths - the same position they had been in when the blurred photos were shown. "Guys?"

The phone in the kitchen rang, setting off a chain of ringtones as various cell phones, and even communicators began to sound off.

"This is it," Jason said as he set his pizza back on his plate at last Tommy mirroring his action. "This is what you've been waiting for."

Tommy nodded as he fumbled for his phone. They all scrambled for their phones as Rocky left to answer the one in the kitchen. He looked down to see the number - one he hadn't been expecting.

"Kim," he said, in response to the voice on the other end once he'd answered. "Yeah... yeah we saw it, too... No. You won't be called to duty unless there's no other choice. I promise you." When he was through with her, he fielded another call. This time from Ethan.

Jason meanwhile was on the phone with Zack before transferring to another call with one of the Reds in Silver Hills.

"I've got Tanya asking if she needs to come back from Australia-" Kira called out over the voices.

Rocky shouted from the kitchen. "Tommy! I've got Billy here! Says he needs to talk to you!"

The Park-DeSantos household was chaos for the rest of the night as the veteran Rangers and one tech did their best to calm the frantic callers checking in to find out what, if anything, Tommy might know of the situation.

Escaping the chaos, Tommy took the phone from the kitchen into Rocky and Adam's bedroom for a little peace.

_"I assume you have seen the news report about the monsters in Harwood County?"_

"Who hasn't. We don't know much more than the news does."

_"But you do know a little more,"_ Billy said on the other end of the line. _"You've been expecting it, haven't you?"_

"Yeah how'd-"

_"Honestly Tommy. By now you should really stop questioning how I find out things. It's a Blue Ranger secret."_

"Remind me to steal your color sometime," Tommy joked, having long ago embraced the running joke the Great Power seemed to like making him the butt of.

Billy's tone switched from pleasant to grave in a matter of seconds. _"That, I'm afraid, is likely never going to happen again."_

"What do you mean?"

_"At your earliest convenience, I need you to come to my lab in San Angeles. I would come to Ranger HQ but if something were to go wrong, you are not equipped to manage the situation."_

"Is this about my morphs?"

_"Yes. I believe I may have resolved the problems however this is best done in person. Preferably with Jason present as well since he's higher on the chain of command than you are."_

"A technicality of seniority only."

_"One that I am more than happy to observe if you do indeed take up the Dragon Coin again."_

Tommy thought about it for a few long minutes as Billy waited patiently on the other end for a decision. Finally, he sighed, rubbed at his eyes and nodded despite the fact he knew Billy couldn't see him. "Alright. Do you mind if I bring Hayley? She's been dying to see your lab for a while now."

_"Of course. I would like her input on another project I'm working on in cooperation with Mr. Hartford. You can call me at his estate when you have the travel details set. I just need a one day advance warning so I have time to put my more volatile experiments into safe storage before your arrival."_

"That sounds reasonable. I'll get back to you in a few days then."

_"Until then,"_ Billy said. _"May the Power protect you."_

Tommy blinked, staring at the corner of the bed he sat on to take the call since he couldn't exactly stare at Billy himself. The man never used that phrase intentionally. Not unless he felt there were a legitimate, serious threat or danger to himself or the world. It must be bad to really ruffle the First Blues otherwise imperturbable feathers. "And you, old friend," Tommy replied.

Adam was the one to find him when the chaos outside the bedroom had settled down. "Tommy?"

He looked up, staring at Adam who held out a napkin with something written hastily on it. Tommy took it, staring at the numbers a moment before realizing what they were.

"What even is this?"

"Kira got a text message from Bridge, addressed to you."

"To me?"

"He said your number's unlisted and Kira's the only one he can remember from this time period. Aisha looked up the coordinates and it points to some place in Harwood County. We're getting the directions for you. I think you're supposed to go there."

"Why me?"

Adam shrugged. "Something about history repeating itself, whatever that means. You have to see it for yourself." He shuffled his weight from one foot to the other. "Hey, if you want you guys can stay the night. It's a lot going on right now and it might help if we stick together to figure out what to do next."

Tommy nodded. "Sure. You got any aspirin? I have a feeling I'm going to have a really bad night."

**o0o**

The coordinates in Harwood County would have to wait. Once the three of them got their schedules sorted out they called Billy, who convinced Mr. Hartford to send a private plane for them leaving from the small charter plane airfield just outside of Reefside.

They were packed for a 4 day trip, just in case it took longer than the two days Billy anticipated. It never hurt to be prepared, Jason had pointed out. A lesson that had taken Tommy years to finally get through his thick skull.

"Mr. Scott," Mack said when he'd met them at the estate. "Dr. Oliver. It's good to see you again. Who's-"

"Hayley Ziktor," she said, offering her hand to the young man. "You must be Mack. I've heard so much about you from our mutual friend Bill Cranston."

"Yeah... he used to help tune me up sometimes when I was, you know, not real."

"How strange is it to go from completely inorganic to orga-"

"Hayley!" Tommy chided. "What did I tell you about-"

"It's okay Dr. Oliver," he said, cheeks a little red. "Even my friends find it a little weird sometimes. I know I do."

After such an awkward first meeting between Tommy's tech and the Red Overdrive Ranger, they were shown down into the world below the mansion to the First Blue Ranger's laboratory. Mack buzzed the intercom. "Dr. Cranston? Your guinea pigs are here." He took his finger off the button and waited for the light above the door to turn from red to blue and the doors to buzz. "Right this way. Watch out for the drones. They like to cling to your pant legs and just take a ride for a while. They're really harmless but if you get enough hitching a ride it can be a real horror trying to pry them off to walk around."

Jason nodded, looking around the lab a little wistfully. "It's a little messier than I remember."

"Compared to the state you kept the zord hanger in after each rebuild I'm surprised you can recognize when a place is in a state of organized chaos," came a voice from behind a curtain. Billy stepped out into view, peeling off black rubber gloves and laying them on a chair before taking off the goggles that protected his face. His glasses were soon to replace them. His white lab coat looked... rough.

"You really don't want to know," he said when he noticed they were staring. "You can go Mack. Tell your father I'll have reports ready for him tonight and will have some requisition forms for him to sign."

"you're not getting more uranium. We're not having homeland security agents coming back to the house."

"That was the one time."

"Mad scientist or not, we're not getting you more weapons grade nuclear elements. Find a way to work around that."

"Okay now I really _**do**_ want to know-"

"It's nothing illegal. And it's not a weapon. Or anything that can be used as a weapon. But I can't discuss it until it's declassified. Just know that it's going to help a lot of people, especially if our world ends up on the wrong side of this war," he said.

Mack gave him a warning look before nodding, then turned to Hayley and his other guests. "If he blows something up, remind him that we're out of fire extinguishers and haven't got the new shipment in yet."

"What?... Does that happen... frequently?"

Mack nodded, leaving them to it.

"Now, if you three will follow me, I need Tommy to test his power coin for me. Jason, I believe you know the safety procedure from your experiments at home. If you would morph and then we can proceed."

 

**TWELVE**

 

Tommy stood awkwardly in the center of the room. A grid was laid out on the floor and ceiling, with motion capture cameras in each corner, constantly scanning and following his movements. As long as he remained in the grid. He looked to the wall where Billy was seated with a large bank of computers that put his set up in the Lair to shame. Then again with Andrew Hartford, among others, funding Billy's various projects who knew how much processing power the man truly had at his command.

It made Tommy very glad Billy was on their side.

Jason stood at the edge of the grids with his helmet under his arm, ready to put it back on and jump in if he was needed. Though, given past experiences in this regard he didn't think it would be likely.

"Alright Tommy," Billy said. "Before we begin you need to understand the gravity of what you are about to do. I am certain that the Green Ranger powers are now stable and will have limited negative effects on your general well being and mental faculties. However by physically inserting a piece of your Black Dino gem into the Green Chaos crystal of your power coin, you will no longer have access to your Brachio Ranger form. Nor any other. Any abilities the gem gave you on a genetic level will remain, as will the link to the grid, but the form will be permanently destroyed as we have taken part of it and merged it with your original Ranger powers."

"So once I morph, that's it? Even if this doesn't work, I've lost two of my strongest forms?"

Billy nodded solemnly. "Not only those two, but all of them. You need to understand that once you morph into this form, all others will be closed to you. You will never be able to take on another Ranger form again. Your Zeonizer will be useless to you whether this works or not. Zordon himself could come back from the dead and bestow the ultimate Ranger form on you himself, and you will never be able to use it. Do you understand your situation?"

Tommy looked from Jason to Billy, then to Hayley. She wore concern like a second skin. Jason hid his well, but he could never hide it completely from Tommy. Billy was guarded, and despite his words of certainty, he too was a little apprehensive. "So," Tommy said finally. "It's all or nothing. I've faced those odds before."

"Yeah, and each time you lost your powers," Jason reminded him.

"Seventh time's the charm then," Tommy said. Billy stood from his seat, bringing him the morpher. Unlike the restored powers he had passed out to the others, his could not use a rebuilt morpher. It was finicky and temperamental. Just like him. Old coin required old tech. The Christmas Ranger stared down at the offered device, a moment of indecision coming over him before he reached for it, accepting whatever fate the Power wished to bestow on him now.

Billy quickly left the testing space, returning to his computers. Hayley turned her back, just in case something went wrong she didn't want to see it happen right before her. It's why she chose to run the equipment each time they worked in the woods with his power coin and doing test after test of each edit they made.

So she instead watched the lines of code playing out on one of the monitors in front of her.

Tommy turned his gaze back to Jason, who gave him a reassuring nod. "You can do this. Whatever happens, we're right here with you."

He drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Then again. Centering himself for what he was about to do.

The weight in his hand was familiar. The sweep of his arm as it came up, his other hand joining it at the bottom, resting the morpher against his palm was pure muscle memory. The trigger word rolled off his tongue almost in reverence of the power it unlocked for him.

**"DRAGONZORD!"** he cried out.

There was pain. Lots of pain. Unexpected as each of his Grid links activated in reverse. A cold shiver up his spine as if someone were walking over his grave. The seat of his Black Dino link. His wrists throbbed as if bound tightly. His guts felt like someone or something was pawing through them as his head began to feel like it was being split open with a spike.

He cried out in agony, Jason coming forward but stopping only when Billy commanded that he stay back. He tried to pay attention to the explanation, to focus on something other than the pain tearing through his body and threatening to rip him apart but he could barely make out what any of the explanation could have been let alone what it actually was.

He felt to his knees, the morpher no longer in his hands but he knew it didn't matter. He hadn't dropped it. He could feel it, the suit settling on him. The morph taking effect, taking control. He bent over forward, propping himself up with an arm as his hand gripped at his chest. His last Grid link to activate. The First Link he had ever made. It felt like it was on fire.

"We have to stop this!" Jason shouted angrily, attempting to come closer, to comfort the man he loved- but Tommy snapped his head up, glaring at him. "No!" he shouted back, green energy cracking around him as he could feel it, just beneath his skin, starting to itch. To burn. The pain began to ebb as each of his Grid links seemed to burn itself out. He could still feel them, but they were forced into inactivity. Forced into dormancy - never to be used to access a Ranger form again.

The old power, his First Power, flooded into him. Flowing through his very veins and caressing his soul like a long lost lover. The weight of his dagger settled on his hip as his fingers were encased in the old white of his gloves. The pressure of his Dragon shield settled on his shoulders. His helmet was the last to form, as if shaping itself out of a green mist.

When it was over, he remained in the position to which he had fallen. His breathing slowing as the pain faded into nothing. There was silence, save for the breathing of himself and the three witnesses to his transformation.

Jason reached for his helmet where it had fallen when he'd attempted to go to Tommy. Hesitant whether or not to put it on. Unable to read the man's face through the black visor on his helmet. Uncertain if the man who had stepped into the grid was the same one who was now before him.

"Tommy?" he asked, the uncertainty clear in his voice. "Are you still... you?"

He stood. Silent as he began to assess himself. It was a little different than he remembered. His morpher was more silver than gold. The shield was stiffer. Stronger. But still offered him a good range of movement.

"How do you feel, Tommy?" Billy said from his computers.

"Disoriented," he said finally as he stared down at his hands. Turning them over again and again before forming them into fists. He sensed rather than saw the object thrown at him, reaching up to catch it easily, accidentally crushing it in his grip. Bits of plastic fell to the ground at his feet. A computer mouse.

"Well, your reflexes are quicker than they were in the old days," Billy said. "You don't have the sudden urge to destroy the city and rain hellfire upon the lives of the Power Rangers, do you?"

Knowing they couldn't see his face, he smirked and turned his head to Jason. Then pointed at him. "I could always chase you around with a sword for old time's sake," he said.

Remembering their conversation at his dad's place just before Christmas, Jason's expression softened. "He's fine," he said. "Which is good because I really didn't want to become a widower today."

Tommy scoffed, shaking his head and resting his hand on his dagger. "Like you'd stand a chance against me now. The only reason it would be a fair fight is because of your lava monster upgrade."

"Maybe we finally know why the powers became permanent then. The Power doesn't make mistakes after all."

**o0o**

They spent the following three days testing the limits of Tommy's abilities and running diagnostic test after test to ensure his physical health and mental health remained stable. He could still make himself invisible, an alteration to his DNA bestowed by the black Dino gem, though it took more concentration than normal. Likely due to the change in his powers and power source.

His endurance had heightened, as evidenced by his sparring sessions with Jason both unmorphed and morphed. His physical strength when unmorphed was half of Jason's Maligorian enhancement when before it was perhaps a quarter of that. While fully morphed the two were, as they had been in the past, true equals once again.

Once they had returned to Reefside Tommy had to plan another trip, but unable to take more time off from work, he planned it for a weekend.

"Feel like a weekend getaway to Harwood County?" Tommy had asked, showing the napkin Adam had given him and the printed directions from Aisha. "We could scope out the new team while we're there. No one need ever know."

Of course Jason had agreed.

If he hadn't, he knew he'd be getting a phone call from someone - likely one of the newest Rangers - telling him that Tommy had gone and done something ridiculously brave and reckless.

Again.

Jason had picked him up from Reefside High as soon as he was sure classes were over before the pair of them drove out to meet whatever the Power had in store for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've always envisioned Billy's experiences as a Ranger, then later as the tech help, and even later on Aquitar and dealing with aliens would leave him a little on the eh, wacky scientist side. Imagine spending your entire adult life (and the later part of your teens) being able to access and utilize alien technology but not being able to tell anyone about it? The pressure man. The pressure.  
> And that's why in this AU Billy has become a bit of a mad scientist.  
> And no, he's not working on anything deadly or illegal. And yes it will help lots of people when he's done with it.


	5. Chapter 5

**THIRTEEN**

 

"What are we supposed to be looking for?"

"I don't know."

"I see a whole lot of nothing."

"There's the ocean."

"A whole lot of nothing in the ocean."

"Maybe a submerged zord?"

"Knowing you it's probably one of your Dino eggs about to hatch."

"The explosion was powerful, but not enough to send any of my experiments this far out."

The two men bickered as they trudged along the shore.

"We could always rent a boat," Tommy said after a while. "There has to be something at these coordinates. Bridge wouldn't give them to us if there was nothing to worry about."

"Or Future Boy could be yanking your chain." Jason stopped, turning his attention back to the GPS in his hand. "There's nothing out there."

"there has to be-"

"We're not going to find it tonight. Lets get back to the hotel and call Hayley. Maybe she can do her computer voodoo and find out anything more. Maybe she can hack a weather satellite or something."

"Why would she-"

"I don't know! She's your pet genius!" Jason shook his head and sighed. "Look, we've been out here for hours and still haven't found anything. If you want we can set up a camera or something on the balcony, point it in this direction, and it might find something. You never know."

Tommy rubbed the back of his neck, looking back out to the ocean again. He let his shoulders slump and nodded his agreement. What he wouldn't give for a teleporter right about now. Would make this search a heck of a lot easier.

Back at the hotel an hour later the two men set up the high speed camera they had borrowed from Hayley's personal tech stash. Using the GPS as a rough guide, they pointed it in the direction of the coordinates Bridge had sent to Tommy.

It was set to record, the footage streaming to a laptop. The laptop was set up on a table they had moved closer to the balcony doors. Resigning himself to a long wait, Jason dropped into a slightly uncomfortable chair and grabbed the TV remote as Tommy settled himself on the bed with a stack of papers and a couple of red pens.

"You seriously brought your work with you?"

"What? These essays won't grade themselves and I need to have the grades turned in by Tuesday."

"Whatever you say..." Jason said as he acquainted himself with the channel line up.

**o0o**

Even satellite imagery - because yes Hayley did sort of find her way into a satellite with a little help from a Blue that refuses to tell anyone how he knows the things that he knows - showed nothing out in the ocean.

Except that there was nothing. Just a slight blur. So she had checked other places while she had access, and she noticed the same _nothing_ elsewhere.

_"Your house doesn't exist,"_ she had said. _"The Hartford Estate is invisible. The desert location you gave me when you left for that dig in 2003-"_

"The first command center-"

_"Also doesn't exist. Just a big smudge of desert. No ruins, no sign of an explosion. Just... a whole lot of nothing."_

"So what you're saying is essentially-"

_"My working hypothesis is that every single base location that any Power Rangers team operates out of is somehow shielded from the general public. And since this is a military satellite.. the not so public, too."_

Jason turned away from the laptop where he sat reviewing the footage of... nothing from the night before. "Well at least that proves there's something out there I guess. If Hayley's hypothesis is right, then we can assume it's a headquarters. Which means..."

"A mentor with Morphing Grid access."

"Exactly," Jason said. "If we can't physically go there, we can send a message through the Grid."

"That's brilliant. But how?"

"Didn't Adam take the Alpha 6 unit home with him after the Overdrive mission?" Tommy nodded. "He's been living at the dojo in Angel Grove. You don't think we could-"

"Send him directly into the Grid to investigate, pass along a message if he encounters a friendly face, and then report back to us what he's found? I'm a little surprised we didn't think of this sooner. Like when you felt that energy wave through the links."

"We're getting too old for this," Tommy said.

Jason couldn't agree more.

**o0o**

They had sent Alpha into the Grid on his mission, after bribing Adam with half of Jason's secret family recipes and the promise to teach some classes at the dojo. Maybe help train some really promising students as well for some competitions so he, Rocky, and Aisha could finally take a proper vacation of their own before the world ended.

They didn't hear from the android again until after experiencing their first monster attack and finally getting to see the latest batch of rookies in action. At a distance, of course. Even Tommy wasn't that reckless.

They'd just come back from at late lunch after the impressive monster show, ready to pack up and check out so they'd be back on the road towards Reefside before dinner. Dr. Oliver was needed back in class on Monday after all. When they opened the door to their room, Alpha was just standing there by the television.

Both of them should have been used to such a sight after twenty years of on and off again Rangering, but there was nothing that could ever prepare them for an over-excitable Alpha unit when it had already wound itself up with whatever news it had to dispense.

All the pair of them could make sense of was the words Zordon, Power, and Meet before they felt the long lost tug of teleportation as Alpha whisked them away to God only knew where.

**o0o**

The chamber in which they re-materialized was dark. They trusted their robotic companion, They had no reason not to. But that didn't mean sometimes he could be reprogrammed. Something Tommy and Jason knew very well from experience. "Where are we?" Tommy whispered. Jason nodded towards the large industrial fan on the wall nearby. Light from an unknown source casting the shadow upon the floor as Alpha walked right through it. The last time either of them saw a set up like that, it spelled bad news.

"We'd better not be on the moon," Jason muttered under his breath. "I hate the moon."

"We all hate the moon," Tommy reassured him quietly.

Suddenly the walls lit up, a long row down each one boasting a line of multi-colored figurines.

In the center of the chamber lit up one by one five colored podiums. One each in a very specific color. Alpha had stopped to chatter with a much smaller robot excitedly as at the far end a large Tiki Mask loomed.

"Welcome Power Rangers," the voice boomed as Tommy and Jason edged cautiously forward, towards Alpha.

Tommy watched Jason from the corner of his eye. "Giant face, check. Little robot friend, check. Mysterious base, check. This must be the right place."

"Rangers," Alpha said excitedly. "This is the great Gosei! Zordon's protege and guardian of Earth."

If Jason were younger, he might have taken this statement without question. He might have been left in awe at the mention of Zordon's name, and immediately, blindly followed whatever may come out of Gosei's mouth without a second thought. But he'd spent too long questioning the Power after the Muiranthias incident that had left him and Kim permanently changed. He questioned the new and the strange with even more cynicism. That was part of why he and Tommy worked so well now. Tommy, for all his proven intelligence and ingenuity, still firmly had faith in the Power. He'd certainly experienced much more than Jason had over the years in regards to it - and that faith had been recently rewarded when he had regained his true Ranger form again. Jason had lost that faith along the way somewhere, replacing it with the heavy dose of realistic thinking and practicality of what they dealt with on a daily basis.

So when he opened his mouth, he knew it wasn't going to be the most pleasant of statements that came out.

"Yeah?" he said, crossing his arms and leveling a grave look upon the weird Tiki mask - certainly no stranger than a floating head in a tube - and hoping that he looked at least a bit intimidating in his stance. "So where the hell have you been hiding for the last two damn decades while the rest of us have been out there busting our asses fighting to protect this planet on our own?"

"Jase!"

"What? If he's the guardian of Earth, then I want to know why Zordon turned to five kids to fight off Rita and kick off this entire twenty year long chain of events instead of turning to this guy claiming to be this world's protector."

"He's literally stuck in a wall!"

"So? Zordon was stuck in a tube but he managed pretty well for ten thousand years before dragging children into his slap-fight with a space witch."

The little robot friend rolled towards them, and Jason could swear if it could smirk, it would. "I like this one," it said. "We should have recruited him instead."

"Tensou..."

"What? He raises a good point. I told you teenagers were a bad idea."

In the end, Jason was taken back to the hotel room so he'd stop causing trouble. He deliberately packed Tommy's favorite green shirt with his dirty socks to spite him. It was certainly going to be a long drive back to Reefside, and they were going to have a very long conversation on the way about what went down after he left.

Jason could be certain of one thing though. His question about where the Tiki face had been all this time was something Tommy wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon.

 

 

**FOURTEEN**

 

The Reds met six months after Tommy and Jason's visit to Harwood County. Well... most of them. Jason was on mission with Kira and Tanya in Europe. Rocky was in San Angeles with Billy, Justin, and Ethan working on getting the teleportation system reactivated using Alpha 6 and tech from the old command center and power chamber. Mack had made it, only because his father was needed in Mariner Bay to work on revamping the Lightspeed Emergency Response System so it could be deployed when needed beyond just Mariner Bay.

The Red Conference didn't last longer than a day and a night, filled with reports from Andros and the Galaxy team on the situation with the Armada. Tommy's brief, updating everyone about the Harwood County Rangers was technically good news, but no one wanted to hear the old familiar tune of the world's fate being in the hands of 5 snotty teenagers. Despite the fact that at one time, many of them WERE the snotty teens that the fate of the world rested on. When he got to the part about their mentor, Gosei on the other hand...

"If he's been waiting all this time for the world to be in danger, why hasn't he done anything about it before now?" Conner had asked. "I mean, technically my new Rookies come from an entire long family line centuries old of Power Rangers but this is the first even they've heard of him, right guys?" He turned to Jayden and Lauren. The siblings looked at each other and shrugged.

"Honestly? We didn't even know there were still other active Power Rangers until some of you guys showed up to our town after we defeated Xandred," Jayden said. "Now we find out not only are there more Power Rangers out there, but apparently there's this war going on and we're just now finding out about it?"

"Yeah..." Conner said, slightly embarrassed. "Sorry about that but.. honestly, we couldn't get involved in your thing. For one, none of us had powers that would have been useful in fighting the Nighlocks or whatever they were. And second, the Power calls us all for our own missions. It wasn't our place to fight your battles for you." He turned his attention back to his mentor. "You get my point?"

"Yeah, I do. Jason had the exact same question when we met the guy. Mask. Thing. I'll tell you the same thing I told him on the drive back to Reefside," he said gravely. Tommy looked to every one of them. His gaze lingering on some more than others - Conner was one of them. It sent a cold chill through the younger man as Tommy continued. "Every single one of us, every Ranger and Ranger ally has a part to play in what's coming. This team, Gosei's team, are the ones no one wanted to happen. Those are the powers no one, not even Zordon, wanted to see activated. The Megaforce team is the Ranger equivalent of the nuclear option."

Voices erupted around the bonfire in the middle of the first Command Center's ruins. No one could be heard over the chaos until Andros whistled sharply, the sound causing many near him to wince as others fell to a murmur, but there was no silence to be had. "We knew this was coming," Andros said clearly for all to hear him. "It's what Tommy and the rest of you have been preparing the Earth for. While my team, and the others off world have been fighting to hold the line, to keep this world safe for as long as possible, good men and women have died. Entire planets have fallen, but we have held the line. KO-35, Aquitar, Triforia, Miranoi and Edenoi - we've held. But the fact is we can't keep them out forever. Every day we are pushed to our limits. The Warstar Advance Guard are already here. The scouts that you all have been fighting and destroying around the world the last few years are nothing compared to what we've been fighting out there."

Andros's words were filled with longing. A longing for peace. An end to the fighting that he had spent most of his life doing. Tommy knew what that felt like. Like his entire life was on a collision course for this time - for these moments. Fighting wars he never wanted and organizing soldiers who never should have seen battle so young and for so long. He was tired. They all were. And with the news from Gosei - the admittance that Earth was in it's biggest dire strait yet and there was little to nothing the veterans could do about it - was painful to hear and hard to accept. Hence why they were here... Why he was still here, still trying to find a way to fight.

"This new team," Andros said, making sure everyone heard him. Even Eric in the back. "They are our last hope. If what Tommy says and what we all sense through the Grid to be truth, the Great Power has summoned the powers that belonged to ancient sages, the Morphing Masters that came before any of us. We must do all that we can to support them. To help them. I have witnessed how the Armada operates. They send scouts, as they have been here, to test the defenses and reactions of the inhabitants. They tailor the true attacks based on what they learn of the warriors defending the worlds they seek to invade. Your world is different. There are so many of you with so many different powers. With Jason and Tommy's guidance you have made many different combinations of teams to deal with them. The enemy cannot get an accurate result. Now they send the Warstar. The advance guard to fully test the defenses. I have yet to see a world the Warstar has visited survive."

Eric spoke up from his place at the edge of the firelight. "So we pull in all the extraterrestrial defenses and blow them to smithereens. Meanwhile we take everything we've got and storm Harwood County. These Rangers are just kids and they need an army behind them-"

"And they will have one," Tommy said. "But not until the Power calls us to them."

"So you want us to sit on our hands and watch, is that it? You, the man who can't say no to a Ranger power or a another fight - you're willing to stand around and do nothing?! No. No way. I'm not doing that." Eric groused. "And I think I speak for most of the Vets when I say you're out of your goddamn mind, Oliver. Not after everything we've been working towards for nearly the last half decade."

"While I don't exactly share his enthusiasm for battle, I have to agree with Eric. We've met people from the future, Tommy. The future happens, we know the Armada is beaten back. Our job must be to do everything we can to ensure that outcome," Wes Collins said.

"And we will. But we can't interfere directly. The Megaforce Rangers haven't even unlocked their full potential yet. What they will be able to do is something no other Ranger can. Not even me, and I'm the closest anyone's ever come to what they are, what they will be. But we have to keep our distance. Make sure the situation is contained and doesn't spill out into the rest of the world. An advantage most of us never had."

TJ frowned, and Conner opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to it by one of his rookies. The newest ones. Lauren. "I know this is an all boys club at the moment but what exactly gives you authority over the rest of any of us? We are all Red Rangers, so we should all have equal say, right? Unless it's some sort of old fashioned idea of respecting our elders and if that's the case then your word shouldn't be the final one. What makes you so darn special?"

Eric laughed from the shadows. A full bellied guffaw that seemed to set off nearly all the rookies. Conner was a bit smug without meaning to be. He hadn’t known the second Red Samurai Ranger long, but he could tell he was going to really like working with her.

Tommy tried not to laugh. He really did. "Jason's going to really take a liking to her," TJ called out above the laughter.

"What? I wasn't joking-"

"We know," Cole said from his perch nearby. "Sometimes the old man needs someone to put him in his place. Usually it's the first Red Ranger but since he's not here tonight..."

"Well, someone had to do it," Eric said once he was able to breathe again.

There was more back and forth debate about how to handle the Harwood County situation. Someone questioned Andros about what he meant when he said the new team had powers similar to the ancient Morphing Masters. Tommy knew, as he'd heard it first hand from Gosei... the last of them now that Dulcea had been killed and Zordon long since gone years ago. But to hear the off-world version of their story was humbling. Men and women brought together, drawn by the Great Power and bestowed with immense power. Able to take many forms and command many powers.

Their might was great but their mission greater. To protect all life, everywhere the Great Power willed it into being. But some of their number were weak and succumbed to avarice and envy, and it twisted their souls. Corrupted them and the power they wielded.

Sitting by the fire, listening to Andros's explanation of who the Morphing Masters were, what they stood for prior to their fall and the breaking of their brotherhood, Tommy understood now why sometimes good Rangers go bad. The Power they had was intoxicating. He knew that better than most. It was what drove him to such an extreme in trying to control the power of the Green he had reclaimed. Even with the addition of the black Dino gem to his power coin, he could feel the chaotic nature of his Green Ranger form longing for the battlefield.

"...What remained of the Masters locked their powers into the Morphing Grid, only to be unlocked when the need came. Only to be given to those worthy of the Power," Andros said, locking eyes across the fire with Tommy. "And who would not succumb to the same temptations so many of their number had."

The rest of the night by the bonfire was spent passing around food and drink. Some left as soon as business was concluded - their time and attention needed elsewhere. Others remained. The Samurais had little choice in the matter, since Conner was their ride. Some tents were set up, sleeping bags rolled out. A proper camping trip.

Sharing a tent with her brother, Lauren found she could not sleep. Much of what had been spoken of that day and night still buzzed around in her head as she tried to make sense of this new, wider world she was now a part of. She would have liked to say she was surprised to find the oldest Ranger there sitting alone by the fire, poking it with a stick.

She looked around and found a half-empty bag of marshmallows and grabbed a stick. She sat down on a rock near him with the bag and set up her first marshmallow. "You never did answer my question," she said as she held her stick close to the fire to warm the sugary, white confection. "What makes you so special? Clearly from what everyone else has said, you're no the first Red Ranger, or... whatever your hierarchy here seems to be."

Tommy shook his head. "You're right. That's Jason. I'm... complicated."

"So uncomplicate it for me. If I'm going to be working with you, not for you, I want to know what I'm getting my brother and his team into. They really didn't handle Conner and his friends showing up and telling them there were more Rangers out there that could have come to help us all along."

"It's as Conner said. We couldn't interfere. Each team has specialized powers to deal with a specific threat. Sometimes we can go to help, but usually not. The Mystic team might have been of some help since their powers are magical based, similar to your own. But there is no guarantee."

Lauren considered this, but brought the conversation back around quickly to what she truly wanted to know. "And you're evading my question."

He sighed, poked the fire, and then looked up at the night sky. It was nice out here. No light pollution to block out the stars. He should have brought a telescope. He might be able to see the Warstar where it floated in orbit without having to use the computers at the Lair. "The first team was chosen by Zordon to fight the evil empress Rita Repulsa," he said. "I was chosen by Rita to fight and kill them."

"And yet here you sit among us as an equal. Something changed and you became good."

He shrugged. "Yeah. Sounds simple, but it really isn't. The spell on me was broken and not long after that Rita drained me of my powers. We limped it along for a time until Zordon could no longer recharge my power coin. Eventually, I lost my powers completely."

"What color were you? If you were recruited to fight the first team, is it safe to say this Jason person was their Red Ranger?"

"Yeah, he is. And I was Green."

"So why are you here with the Reds? Leading them like a general would."

"Believe me I never really wanted to lead anyone despite my early rivalry with my own Red Ranger. We led the team together for a time when I was given a new power, the White Ranger. The first one to be created rather than inherited. Zordon made me the leader but they always turned to Jason. So did I if I'm being honest. Still do. He left, was replaced - that guy's not here tonight either - and then we all lost our powers. Got them back, then lost them again. That's a longer story with unwanted time reversal and the first time we met another Ranger team from off planet. After that I was made a Red. Then again when we had another power change over. I retired after that just so I could graduate high school."

"You were a teenager?"

"Yeah. Not even old enough to vote and I was off saving the world. Our youngest Ranger ever was 12 when he took up the morpher."

"I know the majority of us are chosen before we turn 18, but that's... that's barbaric. A twelve year old child..."

Tommy agreed. Oh how angry he had been when they saw it wasn't Rocky come to Ghost Galleon, but Justin. Time was not on their side, and had it been he would have sent him back and found another way to save Jason and Kimberly. He was even angrier when Dimitria refused to let Justin go. He'd never been so glad to learn that the boy had remained on Earth when the rest of the second Turbo Rangers team went into space.

"What was your last color?" she asked. "You've had green, white, and red. Please don't tell me pink."

He chuckled. "No. It was black," he said. "Have you ever heard of Reefside?"

"You mentioned it earlier... but no. I've been rather... sheltered as I trained to seal Master Xandred most of my life."

He hummed to himself. "Well, there was a team in Reefside nearly 10 years ago now. The power source for morphing were these gems. Dino gems. They would give their Rangers powers outside of morphing. Permanent changes to their genetics. I found them, and I hid them, hoping to avoid another team of kids being called. Unfortunately Conner and his friends fell through a hole in the woods, followed the cave system they landed in straight to my basement. They took the gems, and the gems immediately bonded with them. Now, no one can use them unless their owners die first."

"What?"

"Yeah. I couldn't stop them, so I became their mentor. Until the Power called me back. Again. At least this time I was prepared for it."

"So that was... wow."

"You're telling me," Tommy said, reaching over to take a marshmallow as she pulled hers from the fire, only to replace it with another. "First I have them taken from me. Next everyone loses them. Twice. The next set weren't strong enough so we got an even newer set. I literally gave those away. Put them in TJ's hands and walked off. Next thing I know I'm tripping over a dinosaur skeleton and there they are. Three Dino gems. Our enemy found two more, kidnaps me and tortures me to get me to break the black one free from this crystalline structure and instead it chooses me. I couldn't give it away if I wanted to."

"Seems like someone out there is determined to keep you around as a Power Ranger," she said, roasting another marshmallow. "Have you ever considered that you may come from a family of Rangers? Like Jayden and I?"

He shrugged. "If you'd asked me that twenty years ago, back when I had my White Ranger powers, I'd have laughed it off. But after fighting my evil clone and leaving him 200 years in the past? It's entirely possible."

"A grandfather paradox?"

He shrugged again, eating his marshmallow. "Given my history," he said after swallowing it. "I mean, it's probable. I'd never know for sure though."

"Why not?"

"I was adopted. And the time period we left Tom in there weren't exactly accurate birth and death records. For all I know he might have never met anyone and died childless."

They continued to talk for a little longer, with Tommy apologizing to her, saying that normally when Conner brings in a new Ranger, TJ has started bringing a cake or a gift or something to mark the occasion. But with everything that had been happening they simply hadn't had time.

Before she finally felt tired enough to sleep, she stopped to ask him why they were in the middle of the desert, in what looked like an explosion crater.

"This was the site of Zordon's Command Center," he said. "Because it was a Ranger base it can't be seen by outsiders and what we needed to go over we can't risk someone," he said, pointing upwards, "Looking down and taking an interest. Plus, I felt like camping."

"We get dragged out to the middle of nowhere to meet complete strangers who also have super human powers... because you felt like camping."

"You could have asked Conner to drive you back to town."

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Now you tell me."

 

 

**FIFTEEN**

 

The teleporters were finally tested, perfected, and done. The most difficult part had been getting them all to work with the myriad of powers. Some wouldn't work correctly on one frequency when morphed but would when unmorphed. Some powers disrupted the entire teleportation network and Ethan and Justin had to sit and go through code line by line for a month to find the decimal point that had been the cause of the error.

They wanted something unified, but not entirely tied to powers or the Grid itself. Billy had learned his lesson from the old days, and not everyone could fit into the old Rad Bug. Even seating six was a bit too close for comfort.

Not long before Christmas every veteran and Rookie, minus the team in Harwood County, had an active teleporter. Each team after the Astros had their own unique designs while Zordon's chosen had updated versions of their original communicators. "I was feeling particularly nostalgic" had been the Blue Ranger's only offered explanation. None, not even the other techs that had worked on the project with him hew what powered them. Billy's only explanation had been to cite "classified" each time anyone asked him.

It was his holiday gift to his fellow Rangers, one they shouldn't question if they could help it. Though it didn't stop any of the ones that knew Billy was quite fond of playing with nuclear isotopes in recent years.

Billy had waited for Christmas Eve to push through Mr. Hartford and the Lightspeed Rescue team's new emergency broadcast signal to the teleporters en mass, with a message quickly following that it was just a test and that in the event of a real emergency the teleporters would lock in coordinates with a mission brief to follow. Mostly, he just wanted to annoy the oldest of the veterans with the single most annoying noise they had ever heard in their lives.

_**de-de dee-dee deet-deet!** _

Even mad scientists sometimes needed to take the time to have a good laugh.

**o0o**

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

_"An entire team of nothing but Reds?"_

"Yeah..."

_"Where's Mack?"_

"He's here at the estate. Why?"

_"Because I'm looking at the Red Overdrive Ranger on my TV right now."_

"That's impossible!"

_"Yeah? Well how's this for you? Last week the Samurai team showed up. Explain that one."_

"Where?"

_"Harwood County."_

Billy nearly dropped the phone. "What? Have you told Tommy?"

_"Who the hell do you think told me to call you? He wants you to borrow Alpha 6 from Adam and take a look at the Grid."_

"Why can't he do it?"

_"Because he's off world with Andros and Jason going to the only other place that might have an answer."_

"But Eltar's gone! It was destroyed!"

_"But Liaria wasn't."_

"Liaria..... you can't mean.... They wouldn't..."

_"Jason Scott and Thomas Oliver have two magical dinosaur eggs, access to interstellar travel, and no giant floating head to tell them no."_

"Did you at least try to stop them?!"

_"And do what, Bill? Wag my finger at them? In case you've forgotten I'm just the tech help and they're two stubborn super human Power Rangers. You know as well as I do when they actually agree on something no one can change their minds."_

"With the Armada out there and the Warstar circling overhead- they could have been spotted! When I get my hands on those two..."

_"You can hold them down while Trent and I handle business?"_

"That sounds amenable..." Billy said. "Incidentally, I'll be passing through Reefside on my way to Panorama City at the end of the week. Would you be available for dinner one of those days I am in town?"

He heard her laugh. _"Dr. Cranston, are you asking me out on a date?"_

"I would never presume that I hold a candle to your girlfriend," he said with a small smile. "But if she has a sister it could prove to be at least an entertaining evening with the four of us."

_"I am not setting Helen's sister up on a blind date with you. But a dinner between old friends, now that is something I can do."_

"I had hoped so. I'll call you when I'm nearing Reefside and we can set something up then. I imagine our fearless leaders will not have returned before the month is over."

**o0o**

**"ARE YOU COMPLETELY INSANE?!"**

They could hear the screaming well before they got out of the car. How couldn't they when it was so powerful her voice flattened a couple of trees.

When they rounded the house, the two men were flat on their stomachs, hands over their ears, and unsure whether or not it was safe to get up yet.

"Well I see Miss Ford has the situation well in hand or us."

**"WHY WOULD YOU GIVE DINO EGGS TO ALIENS?!"**

Hayley and Billy had to cover their ears this close to the screeching Yellow Ranger as another tree went down. They waited until she had stopped before getting her attention. "I think they get the message quite clearly now, Kira."

"Hayley what-"

"There's been some developments. Tommy wanted me to look at the Grid while he and Jason were away-"

"Risking their lives with an alien army watching Earth while smuggling God only knows what kind of powerful ancient weapons of mass destruction!"

"Voice down," Hayley admonished. "We'd really like to keep our hearing if at all possible," she said as Billy went to help Jason up off the ground. After briefly testing both Jason and Tommy's hearing, he concluded they would be fine in approximately an hour or so once the ringing had stopped. The trees that had taken the full brunt of Kira's now masterful ptera scream on the other hand would never stand again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been fascinated with the idea of the Morphing Masters, who were mentioned like once in season 1 with the Power Eggs and never mentioned ever again. I mean, ancient sorcerors like that should be more important but whatever. So, I've chosen to make them more important.  
> Also, in case no one's noticed, this AU assumes the first Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers movie is canon rather than the Ninjor thing (mostly because I really REALLY HATE Ninjor...) but there's a good reason other than my hate for Ninjor for this. Which is explored further in the story that takes place after this one. So...  
> Speaking of, this story's nearly done. There's maybe 2 more chapters and an epilogue to go, maybe less.


	6. Chapter 6

**SIXTEEN**

 

Once they were able to hear again, Jason came down to the Lair to talk with both women over what had happened, and to explain to Kira why it was so important that they needed to go to Liaria. Firstly Lerigot and Yara couldn't come to Earth because it would kill them. And they couldn't risk sending a transmission signal to them because the Armada could decode and trace it to both the Veterans and the wizards of Liaria. Risking a handful of lives compared to two entire planets worth was the best option given their situation.

"But why did you have to go?" Kira asked. "You know any one of us would gladly take that risk so you don't have to. If anything were to happen to you, both of you, this entire thing we're part of, it all falls apart."

"I doubt it-"

"I can't speak for every team out there, but you two are pretty much our Zordon."

Hayley frowned. "I guess that makes me Alpha then-"

"I mean, you do get along great with Billy and Justin..." Jason said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "Look, I understand that what we did was dangerous, but it was necessary. The Liarians are powerful allies, but they are isolated. We needed information only they could provide."

"And the eggs?"

"Lerigot and Yara are the last of the living Morphing Masters. We were giving them back to their rightful owners as a show of good faith. This world owes the Liarians a great debt already. We couldn't ask for their help again empty handed."

The two women listened attentively, asking questions when they wanted clarification, as Jason related to them the reason they sought out Lerigot and his wife. At the advice of Kira's friend and fellow Retro Ranger Xander Bly of the Mystic Force Tommy sought out the Mystic Mother. He skipped over the part about Tommy being unable to sleep for a week because every time he closed his eyes he had nightmares of the Mystic Force team turning evil and Mystic Mother reverting to her old ways.

They needed information on the Morphing Masters themselves, information that the Mystic Mother, given her particular past, could not provide. But she knew of one who could help them. The last of the original Morphing Masters. From him they got the full story, without the romanticism and flourish Andros had related to Tommy and the rest of the Reds.

They heard the footsteps first before the voice. "What's more interesting to me," Tommy said, coming down into their headquarters beneath his house. "Is that we didn't get the whole story about Ivan Ooze from Zordon and Alpha." When he got to the bottom, he sighed. "But that's a story for another day. The most important thing we learned on our journey was that a morphing master can take any form, even if it's already in use at the time. Kira, if you're in a battle and one of the Megaforce team taps into your power, even for just a few seconds then your morph will destabilize and you will revert to your civilian form."

"That's... that could get me killed! My powers are tied to my life force! If someone else is using it... Remember what happened to Trent with the evil clone!"

Tommy sighed and looked to Jason. The two men seemed to speak without speaking before Jason got up as Tommy crossed the room to take a seat at the computers. He brought up videos they had collected, a mixture of surveillance videos and media footage showing the newest team in their ranks. Both their base forms and their super forms with which they borrowed the powers of others. "As you can see here, they can only maintain our forms for a limited amount of time, and constantly switch among them in battle. One Ranger can take two, even five different forms in a single confrontation. But they can't hold onto it for long. If they do they'll experience a sort of backlash of energies."

"It's like in computers. Too much load on a server and it gets overloaded. Crashes."

Jason shrugged, glancing at Hayley. "Something like that," she said as Tommy went on.

"The link they've hijacked essentially resets to default and can seriously injure them. In Zordon's time this wasn't an issue except for a very few powers. The Masters could take any form and hold it for as long as necessary before changing out to another because the powers weren't tied to anyone else yet."

Kira thought about this for a few minutes, and was about to say something before an alarm went off. She groaned as Jason pulled up the active duty roster while Tommy rattled off the information. "Huh. Looks like this one's old school. Item turned into a monster. Should be a walk in the park."

"We have a few Vets itching for action. Rocky's been dying to try out the modifications to his suit-"

"Not without training wheels he's not."

"We could send Adam with him. And I could go-"

"You're not on active duty and I need you here," Tommy said.

Hayley rolled her eyes and pushed Jason out of the way. She scanned through the list quickly and selected five names before pushing out the signal to their communicators. "There," she said. "Adam, Rocky, Kira, Trent, and-" She pointed at Jason just as his communicator went off. "Off you go. That giant stuffed unicorn isn't going to stop itself."

"Hayley!"

"What? Rocky is rusty and needs the experience. Adam won't let him go without him," she said as Jason and Kira activated their teleporters after a quick and quiet word with their chosen team through the communicators. "You can trust Kira and Trent to look after him if something happens to Adam. And I've known Jason long enough to be able to tell when he needs to let off a little steam."

"Okay, good points," Tommy admitted, turning his attention back to the computers so he could monitor the situation. He didn't look at her when he felt her hand land on his shoulder. "And I've known you long enough to know when you're holding something back. What did you really find out on Liaria, and why did you really take those dinosaur eggs with you."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"Well clearly. And I know Jason won't either. He's too angry about it. So what happened?"

"They can't fix him and Kim. The power eggs absorb Power. We thought maybe they could be used to remove Maligore's powers from Jason. And if it worked, we would tell Kim and go back with her. But it didn't. So we're back at square one."

"I thought he was okay with-"

"He is. Kim isn't. She had to give up her gymnastics career because of her extra powers. If she didn't, people would start asking questions. Questions that would put the rest of us at risk if they dug too deep into her background. We wanted to do this for her so she can really move on with her life after all of this is over."

 

**SEVENTEEN**

 

They couldn't predict who's powers would be borrowed when. But Kira's concern of it happening during a battle or a mission were proven correct. Luckily it happened to someone with unmorphed abilities so they weren't left completely defenseless. But it did put a hindrance on who could be sent out into the field. It limited their forces severely as many had no powers outside their morphs. They had to rely purely on physical strength, stamina, and experience. Sometimes it was enough. Sometimes... it wasn't.

"How long is he laid up for?"

_"Doc said three weeks. With the Ranger Power though... he'll be back on his feet in a week and a half."_

"And his implant?" Rocky asked. "Any damage?"

_"He gained a few more gray hairs when he took a blast to the chest but other than that-"_

"Keep an eye on him. Don't let him leave the estate and keep us posted. If his implant stops working he has to go straight to Aquitar immediately. It's the only place in the universe that can help him."

_"Of course Mr. DeSantos. Is there anything else..."_

"No. Just keep that man on the estate, and don't let him do too much," Rocky said, sagging in the chair once the call was done. He spun around to see Adam and Conner looking back at him. "Man, how does Tommy do this every day? If I have to take one more call about someone else getting injured I think I might actually go mad."

Conner laughed. "You should have seen him when he was stuck in his morph. He was stuck here at the house, and had to spend most of his time down here in the Lair just in case someone came snooping around the house. And then when he was stuck invisible... actually, THAT wasn't so bad. Was pretty useful actually. He helped Ethan not ruin his first ever date. No that I think about it, yeah. The invisible part wasn't so bad until he was stuck in the coma." Conner waited, expecting the two men to be shocked or surprised. Maybe even a little concerned that they didn't know about it sooner. Instead he was met with head shakes, an eye roll, and low chuckle.

"Okay, not the usual reaction that gets..."

"It's Tommy. Every time he puts on a suit or gets a new power something is bound to go wrong at some point. And with him, it's usually catastrophic. With green he was evil. In white he had an evil green clone made of him," Rocky said.

"Oh yeah, and then there was the time he was kidnapped and brainwashed to think he was the king of the Machine Empire," Adam added.

"What happened when he went Turbo?"

"Muiranthias," Adam said. "Your ex and your crush being kidnapped at the same time and turned against you is sort of hard to top."

"Oh yeah... the Power wasted no time in screwing Tommy over again."

"So Tommy being trapped in amber, then stuck in a morph, then invisible, then in a coma?" Adam laughed. "That's kind of like everything catching up to him after so many years of not being a Ranger."

"We should really make a handbook. Just in case he ends up on another team sometime we can just hand it to them so they know what they're in for," Rocky suggested.

Conner snickered. "Or we can just get them a sympathy card that just says he's their problem now. Good luck babysitting him."

**o0o**

The battles the Megaforce team were engaging in became harder and harder to win. Those with more links and closer connections to the Grid could feel it. The Moment was coming. Volunteers went to stay on site, keeping an eye on the situation as it worsened and reported back to headquarters while others fanned out across the globe, fighting off rogue elements outside of the Armada that saw this as the perfect opportunity to seize power for themselves.

_"They did it! They actually fucking did it!" came_ howling through the communicator channels in disbelief after the epic battle. _"They're winning!"_

And then...

_"Oh no.... No! This can't be happening!"_

They all had expected it.

It was a calm. A moment before hell began.

Even as Marvo projected himself in the skies above, ensuring the whole world saw his hideous face they were mobilizing. Non-Ranger techs manned command stations in every Veteran Ranger base and compound.

"Hayley," Tommy said as those who had been hanging around headquarters teleported out. "You're in charge of the emergency network. If anything happens... if we fail..."

"You won't."

"If we fail I want you to use the emergency teleport device I gave you. It's programmed to take you to the old Zord Forge in the mountains outside Angel Grove. Justin's contacts at _NASADA_ have been working on an ark based on designs from Terra Venture. Use the teleportation network to save as many as you can and get off this planet. You'll find safety on Liaria."

"The Armada will follow-"

"They won't," he said as he brought his wrist up, about to activate his teleporter.

"Tommy wait-"

"May the Power protect you, Hayley," he said. In a flash of green light, he was gone, residual sparks of green energy in his wake.

**o0o**

"Christmas just landed," a woman in light blue said into her wrist the moment the green energy dissipated, leaving the man in black pants and a white shirt.

_"Late as always,"_ chimed back another, lighter voice. _"Is Grandpa Rex with him?"_

"No."

_"Because I'm in the south quad. Get back to work ladies. This place won't damage control itself."_

A small voice carried on the wind. Desperate and afraid. Before Tori could respond, the man they affectionately called _**Christmas**_ had already leapt from the rooftop where he'd arrived. She ran to the edge, seeing him running around and over obstacles towards the bridge before leaping through the air and landing on the hood of a red station wagon teetering on the brink.

"Help me! Oh God somebody please!" Tori turned her attention to the newest cry for help. A woman on a balcony off a nearby building, fire blazing out the windows around her. The blue Ninja Storm Ranger jumped to action.

Throughout the night Veterans ran through the streets, scaling buildings and tending to the wounded. No masks, no costumes. Just everyday heroes doing what they could. If they morphed, it might have drawn unwanted Armada attention. So what skills or abilities they had without it, then that was what they would make the best use of.

**o0o**

Few gathered together in the night, most taking refuge with the civilians to keep an eye on them. To help them. To save them.

Of those that did gather, they kept themselves to themselves. Keeping a distance just in case.

"Hayley, how does the situation look?" Justin said from his place by the busted out window.

_"Not good. There's a secondary fleet with more advanced weaponry and technology standing by should the first wave fail. Marvo is taking no chances with this invasion..."_

Nearby huddled around the old oil drum filled with bits of broken furniture were some of the old guard. Pink. Black. A green and a blue.

"Where's Tommy?" Kim asked, as if the answer weren't obvious. "He hasn't been responding to anyone's calls."

"He's probably pushing himself too hard and trying to save everyone by himself," said Rocky. "As always."

A small, mirthless laugh from a very tired Silver Guardian echoed in the abandoned warehouse as Eric stepped up to the fire to warm himself. "Or he's with Trent camping out near the Mega Rangers to keep an eye on them so the rest of us can get some rest before dawn."

 

**EIGHTEEN**

 

Many of them worked in shifts through the night. Resting only when necessary as they freed trapped civilians, rescued beloved pets, bandaged wounds. The older warrior couldn't be prouder of them all if he tried.

A tap on his shoulder. A hunk of bread and half a bottle of water shoved under his nose. "Hey Christmas," he said as he sat down beside him, leaning in just enough so shoulders touched. Tommy sighed breaking his bread it half and offering it to Trent. The younger artist came close to take it, chewing on it slowly as he savored the small bites of sustenance. It wasn't enough, but it might just silence his stomach.

"Just like old times, huh?" Jason said quietly as Tommy ate and drank in silence. "We'll make it through. This world's been through worse."

"No, it hasn't."

Trent watched them on the other side of the small, meager fire he and Tommy had built close enough to the Mega Rangers to keep an eye on them, but far enough away to keep themselves hidden. Of his team he was the first to meet Jason. The first of the Dino Thunder kids to see how their Ranger forefathers interacted with one another. Even if he had never learned the depth of their affection for one another, witnessing how they worked together as Rangers and as leaders was something no less than inspiring. They balanced one another - called each other out on their mistakes and put their duty as Rangers before everything else.

He had seen his mentor and fellow Ranger at a loss of what to say or do before back when he and his team were fighting Mesagog. Trent wondered if in those moments would the first Red Ranger's presence have made a difference in the outcome of those decisions Dr. Oliver had made under pressure? Would words of wisdom from someone on Conner's side of the battles he fought against those who would later be his own team have made the Red Dino's distrust of him in the beginning fade just a little faster?

Even now, sitting across from them he saw what few others could. What very few others Dr. O had ever allowed to witness. His exhaustion. His weakness. His moments of doubt that humanized a man that other Rangers lifted on a pedestal. He saw it because he knew what to look for. He was a Six, just like Dr. O before him. Their similar Ranger origins gave Trent a perspective that most others didn't have when looking at the man who brought so many together under this one cause.

"Hey Christmas," he heard Jason say, just loud enough for the two men with him to hear. "Remember that moon mission, the day after my mom died."

"How could I forget. God I was such a-"

"Yeah, you were. But I still forgave you," Jason said.

"What about it?"

"I told you one day I'd tell you about it."

"Jase-"

"No. No. It's been twelve years. You've waited long enough," he said, raising a hand to stop Tommy from speaking. "It's time I told you what made me go out to _NASADA_ that day."

Trent started to fade into the background, intending to use his chameleon ability to sneak away from this clearly private moment, but Jason fixed him with a commanding look across the fire that put him firmly back in his place.

Jason picked up a piece of wood and poked the fire with it as he turned his gaze to the flames rather than his companions for what could very well be their last night on Earth. "The day mom died you called for the first Red Mission. I was so angry at you I swore and didn't notice mom followed me into the kitchen." He glanced at Trent briefly. "She was in an accident years ago during a monster attack. The meds messed her up and her mind started to go. She could barely string together more than a couple of sentences and stayed in a haze all the time," he said and Trent realized the small explanation was for his benefit more than Tommy's. That way he could follow along a little better. Understand it a little better.

"That last day though... she couldn't talk very well, but she was so clear headed. So... there, you know. She kept saying she was sick, and I realized she was trying to tell me she knew she was dying and was trying to make sure I knew she understood. That I was gonna be okay."

Jason swallowed and took a deep breath before continuing. "Before Trini's parents told them after the funeral, she knew I was a Ranger. They pretty much just confirmed it for her. She'd hear me late at night on the communicator. She said even when I tried to whisper I was loud."

"Your voice does have that sort of booming quality at times," Trent said quietly.

Jason nodded, and Tommy gave a soft, sad smile.

"The last thing she told me what that I couldn't save her. But I could save the world. After that I told her everything. About Zordon and the gang. About fighting you and piloting the zords the first time. I don't think there was a single secret I didn't spill to her that afternoon. She didn't say a word. She just put her hand on my shoulder and... she died. That night I fought with my dad. I was so angry at everything. You. Him. Mom for dying. Myself for letting it happen. After I cooled down dad came to me and we talked about mom. And he showed me what the Astros gave Trini's parents. It was a hologram box showing some of her greatest moments as a Ranger. I was in the background of some of them, with Kim. That's why her parents told mine and Kim's dad. It's why when mom was having her episodes, she thought monsters killed me when I didn't come home for dinner."

Jason tossed the wood onto the fire and stretched his arms up, then twisted his back some before they heard a pop. He settled back down again. "What really got me though was that voicemail you left. If it was anything else I wouldn't have come. But Serpentera? Man... Even piloted by incompetent monkeys that thing was dangerous. I couldn't let our unfinished business wipe out life on Earth."

"It was my unfinished business-"

"I was a Zeo Ranger, too Tommy. Your spare Six. The Machine Empire was **_our_** problem to clean up, not just yours." He looked across the fire at Trent again, then slowly moved his gaze back to Tommy. "You can't save everyone from this," Jason said, then he reached up and put a firm hand on the old Green Ranger's shoulder, squeezing it tight. "But WE can. All of us together. But we can't do this if our best isn't at his best. Get back to camp and get some sleep, both of you. I'll take the watch from here."

"Jase I-"

"Don't make me get Kim. And unmute your damn communicator. If the rest of us have to hear Billy's obnoxious chime, then so do you. Trent, make sure he doesn't turn invisible and runs off."

Jason stood, walking Tommy to the edge of the light himself to make sure the man got going. Trent stopped briefly, letting Tommy get ahead of him but not out of his sight. "You waited twelve years to tell him that."

"I didn't wait twelve years. I've been saving it for twelve years. I used to think he stayed in this life because he couldn't let go of it. Kept having to prove he was more than just some kid manipulated by Rita into being evil. I was wrong. I knew one day he'd hit rock bottom and push himself too hard for too long. So I saved my mom's last words for when he needed to hear them most."

"What are you saying? That he was ready to give up?"

"He's on the edge. That was the best and strongest inspirational story I've got left after all these years dealing with him. If that didn't give him a swift kick in the ass nothing will."

He shooed the young man on, reminding him not to let Tommy get too far without him or they'd be searching all night for the Invisible Ranger. When he was sure he was alone, he sat back down by the fire, keeping his ears open for any sign the Mega team might be on the move.

For the first time in years, Jason was glad they couldn't remove the powers bestowed by Maligore. It kept his senses sharp and his need for sleep was far less than his husband's and most of his fellow Rangers.

**o0o**

They thought it was over when the mother-ship blew the rest of the fleet out of the sky.

Kat turned to Rocky and buried her face in his shoulder as she cried.

Justin jumped up and down excitedly, whooping in relief as the mother-ship came down, but his joy was short-lived as his communicator went off.

_"Guys,"_ Hayley's voice said through the network, broadcasting to every Ranger connected to it. _"I'm reading two temporal displacement signatures near the Megaforce team's current location."_

_"I want an auto-lock on the coordinates. Send it out to every teleporter. It's time."_ Tommy's voice was hard. Commanding in its response. One by one like a domino effect communicators and teleporters synced up. Throughout the city men and women were swept up in the energy field, nearly maxing it out as it transported every Ranger and their allies to the field of battle for a final stand.

When they arrived, they found two ships, each with Rangers already morphed and ready for a fight.

When Tommy touched down, Kim and Jason at his side the Red Turbo Ranger stepped forward, speaking with a semi-robotic sounding voice. "We have come to help."

"What happened to your Blue?" Kim asked curiously.

"He was damaged and cannot be repaired."

"Good, because we've got a Turbo Blue all grown up and needing a team behind him."

There was little time for anything more as Ranger after Ranger shifted into their morphs. Some as loud as thunder and others as silent as the wind as in the distance, the rhythmic marching came nearer and louder.

"Jase, would you do the honors?" Tommy asked, pulling his morpher, his oldest and his most powerful, from the back of his waistband where he'd had it firmly secured.

A subtle nod they took position. The oldest and the Firsts. Zordon's Chosen and their extra Six.

_**"DRAGONZORD!"** _ Tommy shouted as he brought his morpher forward and up in a sweeping arc, his hands joining together as the power exploded around him. One by one the color coded energies went down the line. Green. Black. Pink. Blue. Yellow. Red.

As Jason led his team and others up the cliffs, intending to act as both distraction for the enemy and a show of strength for the newest Rookies in their ranks. The extras, the allies and the Sixes who had no true leaders to follow rallied behind the first of their rank, Tommy himself.


	7. Chapter 7

**EPILOGUE**

 

It was six months after The Legends War and Harwood county was still recovering. To aid this effort many musicians signed on to do a benefit concert to raise money for the county and the citizens to help rebuild the homes and businesses lost in the final days of the battle against the Armada.

The world at large was at peace for the first time in twenty years.

There was more than enough work to go around, and plenty of good paying jobs to be had. Much of it was manual labor, but a job was a job in this economy.

Residents of the county got into the concert for free. Businesses donated hundreds of thousands of dollars. One company, Mercer Industries, donated a couple million to the relief effort before the concert had even started.

Conner McKnight stood near the make-shift entrance of the field where the concert was set up to take place. He and his partners kept their eyes and ears open for the ones they were waiting for.

"There! You see them!"

"Yeah, I see 'em," Conner said. "Thanks Trent. You guys better get backstage before the girls have my head for this."

"Hey, you're the one who deleted Dr. O's entire contacts list. You could have just mailed it to them with a nice little note but no you just had to try and find a phone number for their Pink," Ethan chided.

"Hey, she's cute! And I said I was sorry!" Conner protested as he backed away from his friends, then turned to go into the crowd. Ethan called after him. "Yeah! And she's too young for you, too!"

Conner ignored him, moving through the crowd until he managed to catch up with the latest Ranger team to conclude their mission. "Hey! Hey!" he tried, failing to get their attention.

He bit his lip, knowing he shouldn't but he did it anyway. He tapped into his unmorphed ability and sped up to put himself in front of them. Though he miscalculated his timing and ended up knocking their Blue Ranger to the ground when he'd suddenly stopped. "Ooo.... Sorry about that guy," he said, offering his hand. "Here."

The young man's eyes went wide as he was helped up. "You're... You're...."

"Conner McKnight. I opened a soccer camp here in Harwood County back in 2013. Which one of you is Troy Burrows?" Stupid question. The boy in Red. Conner unhooked five passes from his lanyard, thankful that the weight was no longer his burden to bear. He held these out to Troy. "Backstage passes for after the show tonight."

Troy looked to his team. Gia snatched the passes and passed them around. "Thanks," she said.

"I gotta go. But you'll join us after, right? I've got some friends that are dying to meet you." He leaned in a little closer to Troy, whispering something that apparently made the young man's eyes widen in surprise. Conner straightened up, gave him a friendly pat of the upper arm, and then... was gone in a red blur.

"Okay that was weird. Anyone else think that was really weird?" Emma asked, looking from one side to the other at her friends.

Jake leaned in, an attempt at privacy that really wasn't needed with all the noise going on around them. "What was that about Troy? What did he say?"

Troy lowered his voice a bit more, causing them to lean in further. "It's morphing time. Welcome wagon's backstage," he repeated for them. "Guys, he knows who we are. Do you think-"

"Conner McKnight. _Red Dino Thunder Ranger_. Did none of you seriously bother to watch the video I got from the archives? See, if more of you did the homework then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

**o0o**

"Do you have to go already? We only just got the brats out of the house after lunch," Jason mumbled from beneath a pillow on the bed.

"And you've practically kept me imprisoned in bed that whole time."

"Don't say you want to spend all day in bed if you don't mean it," Jason replied with a sleepy smirk. "But really, do you have to go so early? It's barely four in the morning now."

"And Angel Grove is a three hour drive. You know that. Then there's airport security, check in, waiting for boarding-"

"Can't she get a taxi or teleport or something?"

"You know she won't do that. You had to twist her arm to get her to keep her morpher at New Years," Tommy said as he finished dressing, then sat on the side of the bed to pull his shoes on. "I'm stopping by Adam and Rocky's on the way back tonight so don't wait up." He leaned over as Jason lifted his head. He smiled into the brief kiss, a mere brush of lips before getting to his feet and heading for the bedroom door.

Jason coughed as Tommy realized he left his wallet on the dresser.

Then again when he left his phone on the night stand.

"You'd forget your head if it wasn't attached wouldn't you?" Jason teased.

"Oh go back to sleep. I'll see you tonight."

**o0o**

It was a hug. A simple hug between estranged friends who had finally begun to be comfortable around one another again.

She was about to board the plane. Her best friend's husband, her ex, gave her a friendly hug.

So why was she subjected to flashing lights, deafening noise, and now rain pouring down on her from a night sky that wasn't there ten seconds ago.

"TOMMY!" she shouted angrily as she sat up out of the mud. Nearby she heard a groan, followed by a grunt as a familiar voice called out to ask if she was alright.

"Am I alright? _AM I ALRIGHT?!_ " she shouted as she struggled to get to her feet out of the mud, her pink carry-on rolling case ruined. _**"What did you do?!"**_

He was scraping mud off his face as he trudged towards her with squishing shoes. "Me?! Why do you think this is MY fault?!"

"Because, Tommy, it's **always** your fault! Somehow, someway, this!" she flailed her arms around, flinging mud everywhere. "Weird, unexplainable, whatever THIS IS! Always happens to YOU!" She pointed at him, the once pink sleeve of her blouse clinging to her skin as the rain continued to pour down from above. "Fix this! Fix this **NOW**!"

"I have no idea what's going on, Kim! Just calm down and-"

"Oh, you don't want me to calm down, Thomas Oliver. Because if I calm down, I might just hurt you on principal alone."

Eventually she did calm down enough for Tommy to explain to her that he didn't actually do anything. One minute he's giving her a goodbye hug and the next she's screaming his name at the sky and he's face first in a puddle of mud.

"First," Kim said once she was able to think rationally again. "We need to find somewhere to clean up. I've got a spare change of clothes in my case assuming the mud hasn't seeped inside yet. Second you focus on trying to reach anyone on the communicator."

"Good plan," he said, looking around as she fought with the mud to get her carry-on back. "Hey, I think I see something over there," he said. "Looks like some kind of clearing in the trees. We might find somewhere to take shelter or at least get our bearings."

Kimberly trudged along beside him, muttering to herself the entire way.

"This," she said to herself as she shivered against the cold. She was not dressed for this. She was dressed for a plane, for hot Miami summer, not this... mess. "This is exactly why I cut you out of my life. Anyone that gets even remotely close to you is subjected to this weird, bizarre curse that follows you around."

"I'm not cursed. Anymore."

"Oh really? Let me start listing off all the really weird coincidences that just happened to be attributed to your bad luck, shall I?"

"It's a short list."

"It's a long list and a long walk... Number one, normal non-powered human is attacked by putties then kidnapped by an evil space witch for seemingly no reason at all. Two. Said normal person is turned into an evil green goblin. Three. To compound this problem he gets a special sword to make him EVEN MORE EVIL. Four. After he's set free from THOSE curses he starts losing his power because of a freaking candle. I can't tell you the times I've walked into a Yankee Candle and had a panic attack when I see a green pillar candle, Tommy. Graham has to go in ahead of me and make sure I don't see any before I can go in." She paused, and shot him a glare. "All of this in just the first two freaking weeks that I knew you. It just gets worse as time goes on. And according to Miss Kira Ford, it's still happening."

"Okay so I might be a little cursed. I don't know. My life just... I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time or why this even happens to me so much. Let's just stop talking and figure this out so I can go home, enjoy a student and Ranger business free summer, and you can get on with whatever it is you do now."

"Fine."

"Fine," Tommy snapped back just before tripping over a tree root and slamming back into the mud as if the Power itself were demonstrating Kim's point for her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. This story is over. I have enjoyed writing it immensely and hope that you've all enjoyed the ride.  
> As you can see from the epilogue, Tommy's adventures in Rangering aren't over just yet, and neither are Kimberly's. I have another story already partially written with the next part of the _Grid Links_ AU and I hope that you'll join me there as well. Until next time, folks, may the Power protect you.


End file.
